


I 




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Book ' I'i 



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y;-^^ 



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.5' ; 



ROUGH NOTES 



TAKEN DURING 



SOME RAPID JOURNEYS 



THE PAMPAS 



AND AMONG 



THE ANDES. 



By captain F. B. READ. 




LONDON : 
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 



MDCCCXXVI. 






LONPON : 

rrinted by WILLIAM CLOWES, 
Stamford-Street. 



INTKODUCTION. 



The sudden rise and fall, the unexpected 
appearance and disappearance, of so many 
Mining Companies, is-a subject which must 
necessarily occupy a few lines in the future 
history of our country ; and when the exul- 
tation of those who have gained, and the 
disappointment of those who have lost, are 
alike forgotten, the Historian who calmly 
relates the momentary existence of these 
Companies, will only inquire into the gene- 
ral causes of their formation, and the gene- 
ral causes of their failure. 



IV IXTRODUCTION. 

That a commercial error has been com- 
mitted, no one can deny ; and it must also 
be admitted, that this error was not confined 
to a few individuals, or to any association 
of individuals, but like a contagious disease 
it pervaded all classes of society ; and that 
among the lists of Shareholders in these spe- 
culations, were to be found the names of 
people of the first rank, character, and edu- 
cation in the country. 

Experience has at last been purchased at 
a very great loss, and by it we now learn, 
that both the formation of these Companies, 
and their failure, have proceeded from one 
cause— our Ignorance of the country which 
was to be the field of the speculation. But 
although this must be confessed, yet let it 
also be remembered, that the error was ac- 
companied by all the noble characteristics 
which distinguish our country. 



IKTIIODUCTION. 



Had we known the nature of the different 
countries, it would have been deemed im- 
prudent to have forwarded to them expen- 
sive machinery, to have given liberal sala- 
ries to every individual connected with the 
speculation, to have invited the Natives to 
share the profits, to have intrusted the Capi- 
tal to solitary individuals, &c. Still had the 
Foundation been good, the Building was 
nobly planned, and it was undeniably the 
act and the invention of a country teeming 
with energy, enterprise, liberality, unsus- 
pecting confidence, and capital. 

Without lamenting over losses which are 
now irrecoverable, it is only necessary to 
keep in mind that the Cause which produced 
them still exists, and that we are still in 
ignorance of the countries in which our 
money lies buried. Many of the indivi- 
duals who had charge of the different Com- 

b 



VI rNTRODTJCTION^ 

panics, had undoubtedly opportunities of 
making important observations, and from 
them valuable data will probably be ob- 
tained. 

I myself had the sole management of one 
of these Companies ; but, from particular 
circumstances, it will be proper to show that, 
excepting for my Reports, I had little time 
or opportunity to make any memoranda be- 
yond those of the most trifling description 
of personal narrative. 

I was on duty at Edinburgh, in the corps 
of Engineers, when it was proposed to me 
to take charge of an Association, the object 
of which was to work the Gold and Silver 
Mines of the Provinces of Rio de la Plata ; 
and, accordingly, at a very few days' notice, 
I sailed from Falmouth, and landed at Bue- 
nos Aires about a week after the Cornish 
Miners had arrived there. 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

Accompanied by two highly respectable 
Captains of the Cornish Mines, a French 
Assayer, who had been brought up by the 
celebrated Vauquelin, a Surveyor, and three 
miners, I proceeded across the great plains 
of the Pampas to the Gold Mines of San 
Luis, and from thence to the Silver Mines 
of Uspallata which are beyond Men- 
doza, about a thousand miles from Buenos 
Aires. 

I then left my party at Mendoza, and from 
the Mines I rode back again to Buenos Aires 
by myself, performing the distance in eight 
days. I there unexpectedly received letters 
which made it necessary for me to go im- 
mediately to Chili, and I accordingly again 
crossed the Pampas, and, joining my party 
at Mendoza, we went over the Andes to 
Santiago, and from thence, without any de- 

b2 



Wm INTRODUCTION. 

lay, we went together in different directions 
about twelve hundred miles, to inspect gold 
and silver mines ; and on the night that I 
concluded my report on the last mine, we 
again set off to recross the Cordillera, and 
leaving my party in the plains, I rode across 
the Pampas to Buenos Aires, and as soon 
as I arrived there I dismissed a proportion 
of the miners, and returned with the rest to 
England. 

The sole object of my journeys was to 
inspect certain mines. We went to the bot- 
tom of them all, and, assisted by the indi- 
viduals who accompanied me, I made, to 
the best of ray ability, a circumstantial re- 
port on each. As the miners were remain- 
ing idle and without employment at Buenos 
Aires, it was highly desirable that I should 
go from place to place as rapidly as possible. 



INTRODUCTION. IX 



and for upwards of six thousand miles I 
can truly declare that I was riding against 
Time. 

The fatigue of such long journeys, exposed 
to the burning sun of summer, was very 
great, and particularly in Chili, because, in 
visiting mines in the Andes, we were sub- 
jected to such sudden changes of climate, 
that we were occasionally overpowered by the 
sun in the morning, while at night we had to 
sleep upon one hundred and twenty feet of 
snow ; for almost the whole time we slept 
out on the ground, chiefly subsisting upon 
beef and water. 

The reports which I collected, and the 
result of the communications which I offici- 
ally had with the Ministers, Governors, and 
other individuals concerning the mines, I do 
not feel inclined to publish ; because as the 
mines which I visited almost all belong to 



ENTKODUCTION. 



private individuals, and are now for sale, it 
might be considered a violation of the at- 
tentions which I often received, to state 
unnecessarily the dimensions, contents, or 
the assay of their lodes, although the cli- 
mate and the general features of the country 
are, of course, public property. 

During my journeys I kept no regular 
journal, for the country I visited was either 
a boundless plain, or desert mountains ; but 
I occasionally made a few rough notes^ de- 
scribing any thing which interested or amused 
me. 

These notes were written under great 
variety of circumstances, sometimes when I 
was tired, sometimes when I was refreshed, 
som^otimes with a bottle of wine before me, 
and sometimes with a cow's-horn filled with 
dirty brackish water, and a few were writ- 
ten on board the packet. 



INTKODUCTION. XI 

They were only made to amuse my mind 
under a weight of responsibility to which 
it had never been accustomed, and there- 
fore they are necessarily in that incoherent, 
unconnected state which makes them, I am 
fully aware, but little suited to meet the 
critical eye of the public ; still as it has been 
my misfortune to see the failure of an Eng- 
lish Association — to witness the loss it has 
sustained — and for a few moments at Buenos 
Aires and Monte Video to stand upon spots 
where we have lost what no money can re- 
pay us ; as I feel persuaded that these 
failures have proceeded from our ignorance 
of the country, I have resolved upon throw- 
ing before the public the few memoranda I 
possess, and although I am conscious that 
they are of too trifling a nature to throw 
much light upon the subject, yet they may, 
perhaps, assist in making the " darkness 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

visible," and I trust that the rough, un- 
polished state in which they appear will 
at least be a proof that I have no other 
object. 

Lower Grosvenor-Street, 
September 1, 1826. 



DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 



PAMPAS 



?c. occ. 



The mountains of the Andes run about North and 
South through the whole of South America, and 
they are consequently nearly parallel to the two 
shores of the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, di- 
viding the country between them into two unequal 
parts, each bounded by an Ocean and by the Cor- 
dillera. 

It would at first be expected that these twin 
countries, separated only by a range of mountains, 
should have a great resemblance to each other; 
but variety is the attribute of Omnipotence, and 
nature has granted to these two countries a differ- 
ence of climate and geological construction which 
is very remarkable. 

From the tops of the Andes she supplies both 

B 



2 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

of them with water; by the gradual melting of 
the snow they are both irrigated exactly in propor- 
tion to their wants ; and vegetation, instead of being 
exhausted by the burning sun of summer, is thus 
nourished and supported by the very heat which 
threatened to destroy it. 

The water, however, which flows through Chili 
towards the Pacific, is confined in its whole course, 
and forces its way through a country as moun- 
tainous as the highlands of Scotland or Switzer- 
land. The water which descends from the east 
side of the Cordillera meanders through a vast 
plain nine hundred miles in breadth ; and at the 
top of the Andes, it is singular to observe on the 
right and left the snow of one storm, part of which 
is decreed to rush into the Pacific, while the other 
is to add to the distant waves of the Atlantic. 

The great plain, or Pampas, on the east of the 
Cordillera, is about nine hundred miles in breadth, 
and the part which I have visited, though under 
the same latitude, is divided into regions of dif- 
ferent climate and produce. On leaving Buenos 
Aires, the first of these regions is covered for one 
hundred and eighty miles with clover and thistles ; 



OF THE PAMPAS. S 

the second region, which extends for four hun- 
dred and fifty miles, produces long grass ; and the 
third region, which reaches the base of the Cor- 
dillera, is a grove of low trees and shrubs. The 
second and third of these regions have nearly the 
same appearance throughout the year, for the trees 
and shrubs are evergreens, and the immense plain 
of grass only changes its colour from green to 
brown ; but the first region varies with the four 
seasons of the year in a most extraordinary man- 
ner. In winter, the leaves of the thistles are large 
and luxuriant, and the whole surface of the country 
has the rough appearance of a turnip-field. The 
clover in this season is extremely rich and strong ; 
and the sight of the wild cattle grazing in full 
liberty on such pasture is very beautiful. In 
spring, the clover has vanished, the leaves of the 
thistles have extended along tlie ground, and the 
country still looks like a rough crop of turnips. 
In less than a month the change is most extraordi- 
nary ; the whole region becomes a luxuriant wood 
of enormous thistles, which have suddenly shot up 
to a height of ten or eleven feet, and are all in full 
bloom. The road or path is hemmed in on both 

B 2 



4 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

sides ; the view is completely obstructed ; not an 
animal is to be seen ; and the stems of the thistles 
are so close to each other, and so strong, that, 
independent of the prickles with which they are 
armed, they form an impenetrable barrier. The 
sudden growth of these plants is quite astonish- 
ing ; and though it would be an unusual misfor- 
tune in military history, yet it is really possible, 
that an invading army, unacquainted with this 
country, might be imprisoned by these thistles be- 
fore they had time to escape from them. The sum- 
mer is not over before the scene undergoes another 
rapid change : the thistles suddenly lose their sap 
and verdure, their heads droop, the leaves shrink 
and fade, the stems become black and dead, and 
they remain rattling with the breeze one against 
another, until the violence of the pampero or hurri- 
cane levels them with the ground, where they 
rapidly decompose and disappear — the clover rushes 
up, and the scene is again verdant. 

Although a few individuals are either scattered 
along the path, which traverses these vast plains, 
or are living together in small groups, yet the 
general state of the country is the same as it has 



OF THE PAMPAS. 5 

been since the first year of its creation i The whole 
country bears the noble stamp of an Omnipotent 
Creator, and it is impossible for any one to ride 
through it, without feelings which it is very pleasing 
to entertain ; for although in all countries " the 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
ment sheweth his handy work,'' yet the surface 
of populous countries afibrds generally the insipid 
produce of man's labour ; it is an easy error to con- 
sider that he who has tilled the ground, and has 
sown the seed, is the author of his crop, and, 
therefore, those who are accustomed to see the con- 
fused produce, which in populous and cultivated 
countries is the effect of leaving ground to itself? 
are at first surprised in the Pampas, to observe the 
regularity and beauty of the vegetable world when 
left to the wise arrangements of Nature. 

The vast region of grass in the Pampas for four 
hundred and fifty miles is without a weed, and the 
region of wood is equally extraordinary. The trees 
are not crowded, but in their growth such beautiful 
order is observed, that one may gallop between 
them in every direction. The young trees are rising 
up, others are flourishing in full vigour, and it is for 



if DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

some time that one looks in vain for those which in 
the great system of succession must necessarily 
somewhere or other be sinking towards decay. They 
are at last discovered, but their fate is not allowed 
to disfigure the general cheerfulness of the scene, 
and they are seen enjoying what may literally be 
termed a green old age. The extremities of their 
branches break oif as they die, and when nothing 
is left but the hollow trunk, it is still covered with 
twigs and leaves, and at last is gradually con- 
cealed from view by the young shoot, which, born 
under the shelter of its branches, now rises rapidly 
above it, and conceals its decay. A few places are 
met with which have been burnt by accident, and 
the black desolate spot, covered with the charred 
trunks of trees, resembles a scene in the human 
world of pestilence or war. But the fire is scarcely 
extinct, when the surrounding trees all seem to 
spread their branches towards each other, and 
young shrubs are seen rising out of the ground, 
while the sapless trunks are evidently mouldering 
into dust. 

The rivers all preserve their course, and the 
whole country is in such beautiful order, that if 



OF THE PAMPAS. 1 

cities and millions of Inhabitants could suddenly 
be planted at proper intervals and situations, the 
people would have nothing to do but to drive out 
their cattle to graze, and, without any previous 
preparation, to plough whatever quantity of ground 
their wants might require. 

The climate of the Pampas is subject to a great 
difference of temperature in winter and summer, 
though the gradual changes are very regular. The 
winter is about as cold as our month of November, 
and the ground at sunrise is always covered with 
white frost, but the ice is seldom more than one- 
tenth of an inch thick. In summer the sun is very 
oppressively hot*, and its force is acknowledged 
by every living animal. The wild horses and cattle 
are evidently exhausted by it, and the siesta seems 
to be a repose which is natural and necessary to all. 
The middle of the day is not a moment for work, 
and as the mornings are cool, the latter are evi- 
dently best adapted for labour, and the former for 
repose. 

* I have twice ridden across the Morea, which lies nearly in 
the same latitude (north) as the path across the Pampas, and I 
think the climate of the latter is hotter than the Morea, Sicily, 
Malta, or Gibraltar, in summer, and colder in winter. 



8 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

The difference between the atmosphere of Men- 
doza, St. Lewis, and Buenos Aires, which are all 
nearly under the same latitude, is very extraordi- 
nary : in the two former, or in the regions of wood 
and grass, the air is extremely dry ; there is no dew 
at night; in the hottest weather there is apparently 
very little perspiration, and the dead animals lie on 
the plain dried up in their skins, so that occasion- 
ally I have at first scarcely been able to determine 
whether they were alive or dead. But in the pro- 
vince of Buenos Aires, or in the region of thistles 
and clover, vegetation clearly announces the humi- 
dity of the climate. In sleeping out at night I 
have found my poncho (or rug) nearly wet through 
with the dew, and my boots so damp that I could 
scarcely draw them on. The dead animals on the 
plain are in a rapid state of putrefaction. On arriv- 
ing at Buenos Aires, the walls of the houses are so 
damp that it is cheerless to enter them ; and sugar, 
as also all dehquescent salts, are there found nearly 
dissolved. This dampness, hoAvever, does not ap- 
pear to be unhealthy. The Gauchcs and even tra- 
vellers sleep on the ground, and the inhabitants of 
Buenos Aires hve in their damp houses without 



OF THE PAMPAS. 9 

complaining of rheumatism, or being at all subject 
to cold ; and they certainly have the appearance of 
being rather more robust and healthy than those 
who live in the drier regions. However, the whole 
of the Pampas may be said to enjoy as beautiful 
and as salubrious an atmosphere as the most 
healthy parts of Greece and Italy, and without 
being subject to malaria. 

The only irregularity in the climate is the pam- 
pero or south-west wind, which, generated by the 
cold air of the Andes, rushes over these vast plains 
with a velocity and a violence which it is almost 
impossible to withstand. But this rapid circulation 
of the atmosphere has very beneficial eftects, and 
the weather, after one of these tempests, is always 
particularly healthy and agreeable. 

The south part of the Pampas is inhabited by 
the Pampas Indians, who have no fixed abode, but 
wander from place to place as the herbage around 
them becomes consumed by their cattle. The 
north part of the Pampas, and the rest of the Pro- 
vinces of the Rio de la Plata, are inhabited by a 
few straggling individuals, and a few small groups 
of people, who live together only because they were 



10 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

born together. Their history is really very 
curious. 

As soon as by the fall of the Spaniards their in- 
dependence was established, and they became free, 
the attention of many individuals of the Provinces 
of La Plata was directed towards the due constitu- 
tion of governments which might maintain the free- 
dom that was gained, encourage population, and 
gradually embellish the surface of a most interestiiag 
and beautiful country with the arts, manufactures, 
and sciences, which had hitherto been denied it ; 
but the singular situation of the country presented 
very serious difficulties. 
% Although immense regions of rich land lay un- 
cultivated and unowned, yet something had been 
done. Small towns and establishments (originally 
chosen for mining purposes,) five hundred and 
seven hundred miles distant from one another, were 
thinly scattered over this vast extent of country ; 
and thus a skeleton map of civilization had been 
traced, which the narrow interests of every indi- 
vidual naturally supported. 

But although a foundation was thus laid, the 
building plan of the Spaniards was missing. It 



OF THE PAMPAS. 11 

had been destroyed in the war, and all that was 
known of it was, that it was for purposes which 
were not applicable to the great political system 
which should now be adopted. ^^ 

It was soon perceived that the Provinces of the 
Rio de la Plata were without a harbour ; that the 
town of Buenos Aires was badly situated ; and as 
the narrow policy of Spain had forbidden the plant- 
ing of the olive and the grape, the spots which 
were best adapted to the natural produce of the 
country had been neglected : while for mining, and 
other purposes connected with the Spanish system, 
towns had been built in the most remote and im- 
practicable situations ; and men found themselves 
living together in groups they knew not why, 
under circumstances which threw a damp over ex- 
ertion, and under difficulties which it appeared 
hopeless to encounter. ^ 

Their situation was, and still is, very lamentable. 
The climate easily affords them the few necessaries 
of life. Away from all practicable communication 
with the civilized world, they are unable to partake 
of the improvements of the age, or to shake off 
the errors and the disadvantages' of a bad political 



12 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

education. They have not the moral means of 
improving their country, or of being improved by 
it ; and oppressed by these and other disadvantages, 
they naturally yield to habits of indolence and inac- 
tivity. The Town, or rather the secluded Village, 
in which they live, is generally the seat of govern- 
ment of the province, and but too often affords 
a sad political picture. 

People who, although they are now free, were 
brought up under the dark tyranny of the Spanish 
government, with the narrow prejudices which even 
in populous countries exist among the inhabitants 
of small communities, and with little or no educa- 
tion, are called upon to elect a governor, and to 
establish a junta, to regulate the affairs of their 
own province, and to send a deputy to a distant 
national assembly at Buenos Aires. The conse- 
quence (as I have witnessed) is what might na- 
turally be expected. The election of the governor 
is seldom unanimous, and he is scarcely seated 
before he is overturned, in a manner which, to one 
accustomed to governments on a larger scale, ap- 
pears childish and ridiculous. 

In more than one province the governor is ex- 



OF THE PAMPAS. 13 

ceedingly tyrannical: in the others, the governor 
and the junta appear to act for the interests of 
their own province ; but their funds are so small, 
and the internal jealousies they have to encounter 
so great, that they meet with continual difficulties ; 
and with respect to acting for the national interest, 
the thing is impossible. How can it be expected 
that people of very slender incomes, and in very 
small insulated societies, will forget their own nar- 
row interests for the general welfare of their coun- 
try ? It is really against Nature, for what is po- 
litically termed their country, is such an immense 
space, that it must necessarily become the future 
seat of many different communities of men ; and if 
these communities, however enlightened they may 
become, will never be able to conquer that feeling 
which endears them to their homes, or the centri- 
fugal prejudice with which they view their neigh- 
bours, how can it be expected that a feeble govern- 
ment and a few inhabitants can do what civilization 
has not yet been able to perform ; or that the 
political infant will not betray those frailties which 
his manhood will be incapable of overcoming. And 
the fact is, that each Province does view its neigh- 



14 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

bouring one with jealousy, and as I have travelled 
through the country, I have invariably found that 
mala gente is the general appellation which the 
people give to those of the adjoining province, and 
that they, as well as the inhabitants of the towns, 
are all jealous of the power and influence of the 
town of Buenos Aires; and when it is explained, 
that the policy of Buenos Aires is to break the 
power of the monks and priests, and that these 
people have still very great influence in most of 
the distant provinces, and that the maritime in- 
terest of Buenos Aires is necessarily often at va- 
riance with that of the inland provinces, it will be 
perceived how forcibly this jealousy is likely to act. 
The situation of the , Gaucho is naturally inde- 
pendent of the political troubles which engross tjie 
attention of the inhabitants of the towns. The 
population or number of these Gauchos is very 
small, and at great distances from each other: 
they are scattered here and there over the face of 
the country. Many of these people are descended 
from the best families in Spain ; they possess good- 
manners, and often very noble sentiments: the life 
they lead is very interesting — they generally in- 



OF THE PAMPAS. 15 

habit the hut in which they were born, and in 
which their fathers and grandfathers Uved before 
them, although it appears to a stranger to possess 
few of the allurements of dulce domum. The 
huts are built in the same simple form; for al- 
though luxury has ten thousand plans and eleva- 
tions for the frail abode of its more frail tenant, 
yet the hut in all countries is the same, and there- 
fore there is no difference between that of the South 
American Gaucho, and the Highlander of Scot- 
land, excepting that the former is built of mud, 
and covered with long yellow grass, while the 
other is formed of stones, and thatched with 
heather. The materials of both are the immediate 
produce of the soil, and both are so blended in 
colour with the face of the country, that it is often 
difficult to distinguish them ; and as the pace at 
which one gallops in South America is rapid, and 
the country flat, one scarcely discovers the dwelling 
before one is at the door. The corral is about fifty 
or one hundred yards from the hut, and is a circle 
of about thirty yards in diameter, enclosed by a 
number of strong rough posts, the ends of which 
are struck into the ground. Upon these posts are 



16 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

generally a number of idle-looking vultures or 
hawks *, and the ground around the hut and 
corral is covered with bones and carcasses of horses, 
bullocks' horns, wool, &c., which give it the smell 
and appearance of an ill-kept dog-kennel in Eng- 
land. 

The hut consists generally of one room, in which 
all the family live, boys, girls, men, women, and 
children, all huddled together. The kitchen is a 
detached shed a few yards off: there are always 
holes, both in the walls and in the roof of the hut, 
which one at first considers as singular marks of 
the indolence of the people. In the summer this 

* The hawks are very tame, and they are seldom to be seen 
except at the huts; but occasionally they have followed me 
for many leagues, keeping just before me, and with their round 
black eyes gazing intently on my face, which I fancied attracted 
their notice from being burnt by the sun, and I literally often 
thought they were a little inclined to taste it. They are con- 
stantly in the habit of attacking the horses and mules who have 
sore backs; and I have often observed these birds hovering 
about six inches above them. It is curious to compare the 
countenance of the two animals. The hawk, with his head bent 
downwards, and his eye earnestly fixed upon the wound : the 
mule with his back crouched down, his ears lying back, whisk- 
ing his tail, afraid to eat, and apparently not knowing whether to 
rear or kick. 



OF THE PAMPAS. 17 

abode is so filled with fleas and binchucas, (which 
are bugs as large as black beetles,) that the whole 
family sleep on the ground in front of their dwell- 
ing ; and when the traveller arrives at night, and 
after unsaddling his horse walks among this sleep- 
ing community, he may place the saddle or recado 
on which he is to sleep close to the companion most 
suited to his fancy : — an admirer of innocence may lie 
down by the side of a sleeping infant ; a melancholy 
man may slumber near an old black woman ; and 
one who admires the fairer beauties of creation, 
may very demurely lay his head on his saddle, 
within a few inches of the idol he adores. How- 
ever, there is nothing to assist the judgment but 
the bare feet and ancles of all the slumbering group, 
for their heads and bodies are covered and dis- 
guised by the skin and poncho which cover them. 

In winter the people sleep in the hut, and the 
scene is a very singular one. As soon as the tra- 
veller's supper is ready, the great iron spit on which 
the beef has been roasted is brought into the hut, 
and the point is struck into the ground: the Gaucho 
then offers his guest the skeleton of a horse's head, 
and he and several of the family, on similar seats, 

c 



18 DESCmi^TIVE OUTLINE 

sit round the spit, from which with their long 
knives they cut very large mouthfuls*. The hut 
is lighted by a feeble lamp, made of bullock's tal- 
low ; and it is warmed by a fire of charcoal : on the 
walls of the hut are hung, upon bones, two or three 
bridles and spurs, and several lassos and balls: on 
the ground are several dark-looking heaps, which one 
can never clearly distinguish ; on sitting down upon 
these when tired, I have often heard a child scream 
underneath me, and have occasionally been mildly 
asked by a young woman, what I wanted? — at 
other times up has jumped an immense dog ! While 
I was once warming my hands at the fire of charcoal, 
seated on a horse's head, looking at the black roof 
in a reverie, and fancying I was quite by myself, I 
felt something touch me, and saw two naked black 
children leaning over the charcoal in the attitude of 
two toads : they had crept out from under some of 

* When first I lived with the Gauchos, I could not conceive 
how they possibly managed to eat so quickly meat which I 
found so unusually tough, but an old Gaucho told me it was 
because I did not know what parts to select, and he immediately 
cut me a large piece which was quite tender. I always after- 
wards begged the Gauchos to help me, and they generally 
(smiled at my having discovered the secret. 



OF THE PAMPAS. 19 

the ponchos, and I afterwards found that many other 
persons, as well some as hens sitting upon eggs, 
were also in the hut. In sleeping in these huts, 
the cock has often hopped upon my back to crow 
in the morning ; however, as soon as it is daylight, 
everybody gets up. 

The life of the Gaucho is very interesting, and 
resembles that beautiful description which Horace 
gives of the progress of a young eagle: — 

Olim juventas et patrius vigor 
Nido laborum propulit inscium, 
Vernique jam nimbis remotis 
Insolitos docu^re nisus 
Venti paventem; mox in ovilia 
Demisit hostem vividus impetus. 
Nunc in reluctantes dracones 
Egit amor dapis, atque pugnee. 

Born in the rude hut, the infant Gaucho receives 
little attention, but is left to swing from the roof 
in a bullock's hide, the corners of which are drawn 
towards each other by four strips of hide. In the 
first year of his life he crawls about without clothes, 
and I have more than once seen a mother give a 
child of this age a sharp knife, a foot long, to play 
with. As soon as he walks, his infantine amuse- 

C 2 



so DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

ments are those which prepare him for the occupa- 
tions of his future hfe: with a lasso made of twine 
he tries to catch httle birds, or the dogs, as they 
walk in and out of the hut. By the time he is four 
years old he is on horseback, and immediately 
becomes useful by assisting to drive the cattle into 
the corral. The manner in which these children 
ride is quite extraordinary: if a horse tries to 
escape from the flock which are driven towards the 
corral, I have frequently seen a child pursue him, 
overtake him, and then bring him back, flogging 
him the whole way; in vain the creature tries to 
dodge and escape from him, for the child turns 
with him, and always keeps close to him ; and it is 
a curious fact, which I have often observed, that a 
mounted horse is always able to overtake a loose 
one. 

His amusements and his occupations soon become 
more manly — careless of the biscacheros (the holes 
of an animal called the biscacho) which undermine 
the plains, and which are very dangerous, he gal- 
lops after the ostrich, the gama, the lion, and the 
tiger ; he catches them with his balls : and with his 
lasso he daily assists in catching the wild cattle, and 



OF THE PAMPAS. SI 

ill dragging them to the hut either for slaughter, or 
to be marked. He breaks in the young horses in the 
manner which I have described, and in these occu- 
pations is often away from his hut many days, 
changing his horse as soon as the animal is tiredj 
and sleeping on the ground. As his constant food 
is beef(_and water, his constitution is so strong 
that he is able to endure great fatigue; and the 
distances he will ride, and the number of hours that 
he will remain on horseback, would hardly be cre- 
dited. The unrestrained freedom of such a life he 
fully appreciates ; and, unacquainted with subjec- 
tion of any sort, his mind is often filled with senti- 
ments of liberty which are as noble as they are 
harmless, although they of course partake of the 
wild habits of his life. Vain is the endeavour 
to explain to him the luxuries and blessings of a 
more civilized life ; his ideas are, that the noblest 
effort of man is to raise himself off the ground and 
ride instead of walk — that no rich garments or va- 
riety of food can atone for the want of a horse — 
and that the print of the human foot on the ground 
is in his mind the symbol of uncivilization. 

The Gaucho has by many people been accused of 



M DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

indolence; those who visit his hut find him at 
the door with his arras folded, and his poncho 
thrown over his left shoulder like a Spanish cloak; 
his hut is in holes, and would evidently be made 
more comfortable by a few hours'* labour: in a beau- 
tiful climate, he is without fruit or vegetables ; sur- 
rounded by cattle, he is often without milk; he lives 
without bread, and he has no food but beef and 
water, and therefore those who contrast his life with 
that of the English peasant accuse him of indo- 
lence; but the comparison is inapplicable, and the 
accusation unjust; and any one who will live with 
the Gaucho, and will follow him through his exer- 
tions, will find that he is any thing but indolent, 
and his surprise will be that he is able to continue 
a life of so much fatigue. It is true that the Gau- 
cho has no luxuries, but the great feature of his 
character is, that he is a person without wants : 
accustomed constantly to live in the open air, and 
to sleep on the ground, he does not consider that a 
few holes in his hut deprive it of its comfort. It 
is not that he does not like the taste of milk, but 
he prefers being without it to the every-day occu- 
pation of going in search of it. He might, it is 



OF THE PAMPAS. ^3 

true, make cheese, and sell it for money, but if he 
has got a good saddle and good spurs, he does not 
consider that money has much value: in fact, he is 
contented with his lot ; and when one reflects that, 
in the increasing series of human luxuries, there is 
no point that produces contentment, one cannot but 
feel that there is perhaps as much philosophy as 
folly in the Gaucho's determination to exist without 
wants ; and the life he leads is certainly more noble_ 
than if he was slaving from morning till night to 
get other food for his body or other garments to 
cover it. It is true he is of little service to the 
great cause of civilization, which it is the duty of 
every rational being to promote; but an humble in- 
dividual, living by himself in a boundless plain, 
cannot introduce into the vast uninhabited regions 
which surround him either arts or sciences : he may, 
therefore, without blame be permitted to leave them 
as he found them, and as they must remain, until 
population, which will create wants, devises the ., 
means of supplying them. 

The character of the Gaucho is often very 
estimable; he is always hospitable — at his hut 
the traveller will always find a friendly welcome. 



24 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

and he will often be received with a natural dignity 
of manner which is very remarkable, and which he 
scarcely expects to meet with in such a miserable- 
looking hovel. On entering the hut, the Gaucho 
has constantly risen to offer me his seat, which I 
have declined, and many compliments and bows 
have passed, until I have accepted his offer, which 
is the skeleton of a horse^s head. It is curious to 
see them invariably take off their hats to each other 
as they enter into a room which has no window, a 
bullock's hide for a door, and but little roof. 

The habits of the women are very curious: they 
have literally nothing to do ; the great plains 
which surround them offer them no motive to walk, 
they seldom ride, and their lives certainly are very 
indolent and inactive. They have all, however, 
families, whether married or not ; and once when I 
inquired of a young woman employed in nursing 
a very pretty child, who was the father of the 
^' creatura," she replied, Quien sabe ? 
' The religion which is professed throughout the 
provinces of the Rio de la Plata is the Roman 
Catholic, but it is very different in different places. 
During the reign of the Spaniards, the monks and 



OF THE PAMPAS. ^5 

priests had everywhere very great influence; and 
the dimensions of the churches at Buenos Aires, 
Lucan, Mendoza, &c., show the power and riches 
they possessed, and the greedy ambition which 
governed them. It is a sad picture to see a num- 
ber of small, wretched-looking huts surrounding a 
church whose haughty elevation is altogether inap- 
plicable to the humility of the Christian religion ; 
and one cannot help comparing it with the quiet vil- 
lage church of England, whose exterior and inte- 
rior tends rather to humble the feelings of the arro- 
gant and proud, while to the peasant it has the 
cheerful appearance of his own home. When it 
is considered that the churches in South America 
were principally built for the conversion of the 
Indians to the Christian faith, it is melancholy to 
think that the priests should have attempted, by the 
pomp of their temples, and by the mummery of 
candles, and pictures, and images, to have done 
what by reason, and kindness, and humility, would 
surely have been better performed. But their secret 
object was to extort money ; and as it is always 
easier to attract a crowd of people by bad passions 
than by good, they therefore made their temples as 



m DESCEIPTIVE OUTLINE 

attractive as possible, and men were called to see 
and to admire, instead of to listen and to reflect. 

The power of the priests and monks has changed 
very much since the revolution. At Buenos Aires 
most of the convents have been suppressed, and 
the general wish of almost all parties is to suppress 
the remainder. Occasionally, an old mendicant 
friar is seen, dressed in grey sackcloth, and covered 
with dirt ; but as he walks through the street, look- 
ing on the ground, his emaciated cheek and sunken 
eye show that his power is crushed, and his influence 
gone. The churches have lost their plate, the can- 
dles are yellow, the pictures are bad, and the 
images are dressed in coarse English cotton. On 
great days, the ladies of Buenos Aires, dressed in 
their best clothes, are seen going to church, followed 
by a black child, in yellow or green livery, who 
carries in his arms an English hearth-rug, always 
of the most brilliant colours, on which the lady 
kneels, with the black child behind her ; but gene- 
rally the churches are deserted, and nobody is to be 
seen in them but a decrepid old woman or two, 
whispering into the chinks of the confessional box. 
The sad consequence of all this is, that at Buenos 



OF THE PAMPAS. 2*7 

Aires there is very little religion at all. At Men- 
doza there are several people who wish to put down 
the priests ; still, however, they have evidently con- 
siderable power. 

Once a year the men and women are called upon 
to live for nine days in a sort of barrack, which, as 
a great favour, I was allowed to visit. It is filled 
with little cells, and the men and women, at differ- 
ent times, are literally shut up in these holes, 
to fast and whip themselves. I asked several peo- 
ple seriously whether this punishment was bond 
fide performed, and they assured me that most of 
them whipped themselves till they brought blood. 
One day, I was talking very earnestly to a person 
at Mendoza, at the hotel, when a poor-looking monk 
arrived with a little image surrounded with flowers : 
this image my friend was obliged to kiss, and the 
monk then took it to every individual in the hotel — 
to the landlord, his servants, and even to the black 
cook, who all kissed it, and then of course paid 
for the honour. The cook gave the monk two eggs. 

The priests at Mendoza lead a dissolute life; most 
of them have families, and several live openly with 
their children. Their principal amusement, however, 



28 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 

odd as it may sound, is cockfigbting every Thurs- 
day and Sunday. I was riding one Sunday when 
I first discovered their arena, and got off my horse 
to look at it. It was crowded with priests, who 
had each a fighting-cock under his arm ; and it was 
surprising to see how earnest and yet how long they 
were in making their bets. I stayed there more 
than an hour, during which time the cocks were 
often upon the point of fighting, but the bet was 
not settled. Besides the priests, there were a num- 
ber of little dirty boys, and one pretty-looking girl 
present. While they were arranging their bets, 
the boys began to play, so the judge instantly or- 
dered all those who had no cocks to go out of the 
arena; upon which the poor girl and all the little 
boys were immediately turned out. 

I soon got tired of the scene ; but before I left 
them, I could not help thinking what an odd sight 
it was, and how justly shocked people in England 
would be to see a large body of clergymen fighting 
cocks upon a Sunday. 

At St. Juan the priests have rather more power 
than at Mendoza, and this they shewed the other 
day, by taking the governor prisoner while in bed, 



OF THE PAMPAS. 29 

and by burning, by the hands of the jailer, on the 
Plaza, the Carta de Mayo, which, to encourage the 
settlement of the English in this province, had 
lately granted to strangers religious toleration. In 
the other provinces the priests have more or less 
power, according to their abilities, and generally 
according to their greater or less communication 
with Buenos Aires. . 

The religion of the Gaucho is necessarily more 
simple than in the town, as his situation places him 
out of the reach of the priests. In almost all the 
huts there is a small image or picture, and the 
Gauchos have sometimes a small cross round their 
necks. In order that their children should be bap- 
tized, they carry them on horseback to the nearest 
church, and I believe the dead are generally thrown 
across a horse and buried in consecrated ground : 
though the courier and postilion who were mur- 
dered, and whose funeral service I attended, were 
buried in the ruins of an old hut in the middle of 
the Plain of Sta. Fe. When a marriage is con- 
tracted, the young Gaucho takes his bride behind 
him on his horse, and in the course of a few days 
they can generally get to a church. 



THE TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES 

is far from being an agreeable residence for those 
who are accustomed to English comforts. The 
water is extremely impure, scarce, and consequently 
expensive. The town is badly paved and dirty, 
and the houses are the most comfortless abodes I 
ever entered. The walls, from the climate, are 
damp, mouldy, and discoloured. The floors are 
badly paved with bricks, which are generally 
cracked, and often in holes. The roofs have no 
ceiling, and the families have no idea of warming 
themselves except by huddling round a fire of 
charcoal, which is put outside the door until the 
carbonic acid gas has rolled away. 

Some of the principal families at Buenos Aires 
furnish their rooms in a very expensive, but com- 
fortless manner: they put down upon the brick 
floor a brilliant Brussels carpet, hang a lustre from 
the rafters, and place against the damp wall, which 
they whitewash, a number of tawdry North Ame- 
rican chairs. They get an English piano-forte, 



TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. SI 

and some marble vases, but they have no idea of 
grouping their furniture into a comfortable form : 
the ladies sit with their backs against the walls with- 
out any apparent means of employing themselves ; 
and when a stranger calls upon them, he is much 
surprised to find that they have the uncourteous 
custom of never rising from their chairs. I had 
no time to enter into any society at Buenos Aires, 
and the rooms looked so comfortless, that, to tell 
the truth, I had little inclination. The society of 
Buenos Aires is composed of English and French 
merchants, with a German or two. The foreign 
merchants are generally the agents of European 
houses ; and as the customs of the Spanish South 
Americans, their food, and the hours at which they 
eat it, are different from those of the Enghsh and 
French, there does not appear to be much com- 
munication between them. 

At Buenos Aires the men and women are rarely 
seen walking together ; at the theatre they are com- 
pletely separated ; and it is cheerless to see all the 
ladies sitting together in the boxes, while the men 
are in the pit, — -slaves, common sailors, soldiers, 
and merchants, all members of the same republic. 



32 TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 

The town is furnished with provisions by the 
Gauchos in a manner that shews a great want of 
attention to those arrangements which are generally 
met with in civilized communities. Milk, eggs, 
fruit, vegetables, and beef are brought into the town 
by individuals at a gallop ^, and they are only to be 
had when they choose to bring them. The articles 
of life are brought together without due arrange- 
ment, and the consequence is, that (excepting beef) 
they are dearer than in London, and sometimes 
are not to be had at all. I happened to leave 
Buenos Aires just as the fig-season was over, and 
though it was the middle of summer, no fruit was 
to be had : the towns-people seemed to be quite satis- 

* One of the most striking pictures in and nearBuenos Aires 
is the young Gaucho who brings milk. The milk is carried in 
six or eight large earthen bottles, which hang on each side of 
the saddle. There is seldom room for the boy's legs, and he 
therefore generally turns his feet up behind him on the saddle, 
and sits like a frog. One meets these boys in squads of four or 
five, and the manner in which they gallop in their red cloth 
caps, with their scarlet ponchos flying behind them, has a singu- 
lar appearance. The butchers' shops are covered carts, which 
are not very agreeable objects. The beef, mangled in a most 
shocking manner, is swinging about; and I have constantly seen 
a large piece tied by a strip of hide to the tail of the cart, and 
dragged along the ground, with a dog trying to tear it. 



TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 3-3 

fied with this reason, and I could not persuade 
them that some one should arrange a constant sup- 
ply and succession of fruits, and not leave it en- 
tirely to the Gaucho. But the same want of ar- 
rangement exists in all instances. If one has been 
taken out to dinner in a carriage, and in the evening 
ventures to inquire why it has not arrived, the 
answer is that it is raining, and that those who let 
carriages will not allow them to go out if it rains. ^^^^^L^ 

During the short time I was at Buenos Aires, I 
lived in a house out of the town, which was oppo- 
site the English burying-ground, and very near the 
place where the cattle were killed. This latter spot 
was about four or five acres, and was altogether 
devoid of pasture; at one end of it there was a 
large corral enclosed by rough stakes, and divided 
into a number of pens, each of which had a sepa- 
rate gate. These cells were always full of cattle 
doomed for slaughter. I several times had occa- 
sion to ride over this field, and it was curious to see 
its different appearances. In passing it in the day 
or evening, no human being was to be seen : the 
cattle up to their knees in mud, and with nothing 
to eat, were standing in the sun, occasionally low- 



34t TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 

ing, or rather roaring to each other. The ground 
in every direction was covered with groups of large 
white gulls, some of which were earnestly pecking 
at the slops of blood which they had surrounded, 
while others were standing upon their tip-toes, and 
flapping their wings as if to recover their appetite. 
Each slop of blood was the spot where a bullock 
had died ; it was all that was left of his history, 
and pigs and gulls were rapidly consuming it. 
Early in the morning no blood was to be seen ; a 
number of horses, with the lassos hanging to their 
saddles, were standing in groups apparently asleep : 
the mataderos were either sitting or lying on the 
ground close to the stakes of the corral, and 
smoking segars; while the cattle, without metaphor, 
were waiting until the last hour of their existence 
should strike; for as soon as the clock of the lieco- 
lata struck, the men all vaulted on their horses, 
the gates of all the cells were opened, and in a 
very few seconds, there was a scene of apparent 
confusion which it is quite impossible to describe. 
Every man had a wild bullock at the end of his 
lasso ; some of these animals were running away 
from the horses, and some were running at them ; 



TOWN OF BUENOS AIUES. 35 

many were roaring, some were hamstrung, and 
running about on their stumps ; some were killed 
and skinned, while occasionally one would break 
the lasso. The horse would often fall upon his 
rider, and the bullock endeavour to regain his 
liberty, until the horsemen at full speed caught 
him with the lasso, tripping him off the ground in a 
manner that might apparently break every bone in 
his body. I was more than once in the middle of 
this odd scene, and was really sometimes obliged 
to gallop for my life, without exactly knowing 
where to go, for it was often Scylla and Charybdis. 
I was one day going home from this scene when 
I saw a man on foot select a very large pig from a 
herd, and throw a lasso over his neck ; he pulled it 
with all his strength, but the pig had no idea of 
obeying the summons : in an instant a little child 
rode up, and very quietly taking the end of the 
lasso from the man, he lifted up the sheep-skin 
which covered the saddle, fixed the lasso to the 
ring which is there made for it, and then instantly 
set off at a gallop : never did any one see an ob- 
JStinate animal so completely conquered ! With his 
tail pointing to the ground, hanging back, and with 

D 2 



S6 TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 

his four feet all scratching along the ground like the 
teeth of a harrow, he followed the boy evidently 
altogether against his will; and the sight was so 
strange, that I instantly galloped after the pig, to 
watch his countenance. He was as obstinate as 
ever until the lasso choked him, and he then 
fainted, and fell on his side. The boy dragged 
him in this state, at a gallop, more than three- 
quarters of a mile over hard rough ground, and at 
last suddenly stopped, and jumping off his horse, 
began to unloose the lasso: — " Sta muerto !" (he is 
dead,) said I to the boy, really sorry for the pig*s 
fate. ''Sta vivo!" exclaimed the child, as he 
vaulted on his horse, and galloped away. I watched 
the pig for some time, and was observing the blood 
on his nose, when, to my great surprise, he began 
to kick his hind leg : he then opened his mouth, 
and at last his eyes ; and after he had looked about 
him, a little like Clarence after his dream, he got 
up, and very leisurely walked to a herd of ten or 
twelve pigs of about the same size as himself, who 
were about twenty yards off. I slowly followed 
him, and when I came to the herd, I saw they had 
every one of them bloody noses. 



TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 37 

The house which I had near Buenos Aires was 
not only opposite the English burying-ground, but 
on the road to the R-ecolata, which was the great 
burying-place for the town; about half-a-dozen 
funerals passed my window every day, and during 
the few days I was at Buenos Aires, I scarcely 
ever rode into the town without meeting one. 
- Although the manners, customs, amusements, 
and fashions of different nations are constantly 
changing, and are generally different in different 
climates, yet one would at first expect that so 
simple an act as that of consigning to its narrow 
bed the body of a dead man would, in all countries 
and in all places, be the same, — but though death 
is the same, funerals are very different. In the old 
world, how often does the folly and vanity and vex- 
ation of spirit in which a man has lived accompany 
him to the tomb ; and how often are the good feel- 
ings of the living overpowered by the vain pomp 
and ostentation which mocks the burial of the 
dead. In South America, the picture is a very 
different one, and certainly the way in which the 
people were buried at Buenos Aires appeared more 
strange to my eyes than any of the customs of the 



38 TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 

place. Of late years, a few of the principal people 
have been buried in coffins, but generally the dead . 
are called for by a hack hearse, in which there is a 
fixed coffin, into which they are put, when away 
the man gallops with the corpse, and leaves it in 
the vestibule of the Recolata. There is a small 
vehicle for children, which I really thought was 
a mountebank's cart; it was a hght open tray, on 
wheels painted white, with light blue silk curtains, 
and driven at a gallop by a lad dressed in scarlet, 
with an enormous plume of white feathers in his 
hat. As I was riding home one day, I was over- 
taken by this cart, (without its curtains, &c.) in 
which there was the corpse of a black boy nearly 
naked. I galloped along with it for some dis- 
tance ; the boy, from the rapid motion of the 
carriage, was dancing sometimes on his back and 
sometimes on his face ; occasionally his arm or leg 
would get through the bar of the tray, and two or 
three times I really thought the child would have 
been out of the tray altogether. The bodies of the 
rich were generally attended by their friends ; but 
the carriages with four people in each were seldom 
able to go as fast as the hearse. 



TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 39 

r went one day to the Recolata, and just as I got 
there, the little hearse drove up to the gate. The 
man who had charge of the burial-place received 
from the driver a ticket, which he read, and put 
into his pocket ; the driver then got into the tray, 
and taking out a dead infant of about eight months 
old, he gave it to the man, who carried it swinging 
by one of its arms into the square-walled burial- 
ground, and I followed him. He went to a spot 
about ten yards from the corner, and then, without 
putting his foot upon the spade, or at all lifting up 
the ground, he scratched a place not so deep as the 
furrow of a plough. While he was doing this, the 
poor Httle infant was lying before us on the ground 
on its back ; it had one eye open, and the other 
shut ; its face was unwashed, and a small piece of 
dirty cloth was tied round its middle : the man, as 
he was talking to me, placed the child in the httle 
furrow, pushed its arms to its side with the spade, 
and covering it so barely with earth that part of the 
cloth was still visible, he walked away and left it. 
I took the spade, and was going to bury the poor 
child myself, when I recollected that as a stranger 
I should probably give offence, and I therefore 



40 TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 

walked towards the gate. I met the same man, 
with an assistant, carrying a tray, in which was 
the body of a very old man, followed by his 
son, who was about forty; the party were all quar- 
relling, and remained disputing for some minutes 
after they had brought the body to the edge of the 
trench. This trench was about seven feet broad, 
and had been dug from one wall of the burial- 
ground to the other: the corpses were buried across 
it by fours, one above another, and there was a 
moveable shutter which went perpendicularly across 
the trench, and was moved a step forwards as soon 
as the fourth body was interred. One body had 
already been interred ; the son jumped down upon 
it, and while he was thus in the grave, standing 
upon one body and leaning against three, the two 
grave-diggers gave him his father, who was dressed 
in a long, coarse, white linen shirt. The grave was 
so narrow that the man had great difficulty in laying 
the body in it, but as soon as he had done so, he 
addressed the lifeless corpse of his father, and 
embraced it with a great deal of feeling: the 
situation of the father and son, although so very 
unusual, seemed at the moment anything but un- 



TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES. 41 

natural. In scrambling out of the grave, the man 
very nearly knocked a woman out of the tier of 
corpses at his back ; and as soon as he was up, the 
two attendants with their spades threw earth down 
upon the face and the white dress of the old man, 
until both were covered with a very thin layer of 
earth : the two men then jumped down with heavy 
wooden rammers, and they really rammed the corpse 
in that sort of way that, had the man been alive, he 
would have been killed ; and we then all walked 
away. 



4S 



MODE OF TRAVELLING. 

There are two ways of travelling across the Pam- 
pas, in a carriage, or on horseback. The carriages 
are without springs, either of wood or iron, but 
they are very ingeniously slung on hide-ropes, 
which make them quite easy enough. There are 
two sorts of carriages, a long vehicle on four 
wheels, like a van (with a door behind), which is 
drawn by four or six horses, and which can carry 
eight people ; and a smaller carriage on two wheels, 
of about half the length, which is usually drawn by 
three horses. 

When I first went across the Pampas, I pur- 
chased for my party a large carriage, and also an 
enormous, two- wheeled, covered cart, which carried 
about twenty-five hundred weight of miners' tools, 
&c. I engaged a capataz (head-man), and he 
hired for me a number of peons, who were to 
receive thirty or forty dollars each for driving the 
vehicles to Mendoza. 



MODE OF TRAVELLING. 45 

The day before we started, the capataz came to 
me for some money to purchase hides, in order to 
prepare the carriages in the usual way. The hides 
were soaked, and then cut into long strips, about 
three-quarters of an inch broad, and the pole, as 
also almost all the wood-work of the carriage, were 
firmly bound with the wet hide, which, when dry, 
shrunk into a band almost as hard as iron. The 
spokes of the wheels, and, very much to our asto- 
nishment, the fellies or the circumference of the 
wheels were similarly bound, so that they actually 
travelled on the hide. We all declared it would 
be cut before it got over the pavement of Buenos 
Aires, but it went perfectly sound for seven 
hundred miles, and was then only cut by some 
sharp granite rocks over which we were obliged to 
drive* 

With respect to provisions, we were told (truly 
enough) that there is little to be had on the Pampas 
but beef and water ; and a quantity of provisions, 
with cherry brandy, &c. &c., was collected by the 
party, some of whom, I believe, fancied that I 
was going to take them, not to El Dorado, but to 
^J that undiscovered country from which no travel- 



44j mode of travelling. 

ler returns ;" however, when we were ready to start, 
one of them found out that the loaves and fishes, 
the canteen, &c., Avere all left out (whether by 
accident or design, it matters not), and they then 
all cheerfully consented to " rough it," which is 
really the only way to travel without vexation in 
any country. We took some brandy and tea with 
us, but so destitute were we of other luxuries, that 
the first day we had nothing to drink our tea out 
of but egg-shells. 

As it had been reported to the government of 
Buenos-Ayres, that the Pampa Indians had in- 
vaded the country through which we had to pass, 
the minister was kind enough to give me an order 
to a Commandant who was on the road with troops, 
for assistance if required ; and besides this, we 
purchased a dozen muskets, some pistols, and 
sabres, which were slung to the roof of the car- 
riage. 

As it is customary to pay the peons half their 
money in advance, and as men who have been paid 
in advance have in all countries a number of 
thirsty friends, it is very difficult to collect all the 
drivers. Ours were of all colours, black, white, 



MODE OF TllAVELLING. 45 

and red ; and they were as wild a looking crew as 
ever was assembled. We had six horses in the 
carriage, six in the cart, each of which was ridden 
by a peon, and I, with one of the party, rode. 
X The travelling across the Pampas a distance 
of more than nine hundred miles is really a very 
astonishing eifort. The country, as before de- 
scribed, is flat, with no road but a track, which is 
constantly changed. The huts, which are termed 
posts, are at different distances, but upon an ave- 
rage, about twenty miles from each other ; and in 
travelling with carriages, it is necessary to send a 
man on before, to request the Gauchos to collect 
their horses. 

The manner in which the peons drive is quite 
extraordinary. The country being in a complete 
state of nature, is intersected with streams, rivulets, 
and even rivers, with pontanas (marshes), &c., 
through which it is absolutely necessary to drive. 
In one instance the carriage, strange as it may 
seem, goes through a lake, which of course is not 
deep. The banks of the rivulets are often very 
precipitous, and I constantly remarked that we 
drove over and through places which in Europe 



"46 JklODE OF TRAVELLING. 

any military officer would, I believe, without hesi- 
tation report as impassable. 

The mode in which the horses are harnessed is 
admirably adapted to this sort of rough driving. 
They draw by the saddle instead of the collar, and 
having only one trace instead of two, they are able, 
on rough ground, to take advantage of every firm 
spot; v/here the ground v/ill only once bear, every 
peon takes his own path, and the horses'* limbs are 
all free and unconstrained. 

In order to harness or unharness, the peons have 
only to hook and unhook the lasso which is fixed 
to their saddle; and this is so simple and easy, that 
we constantly observed when the carriage stopped, 
that before any one of us could jump out of it, the 
peons had unhooked, and were out of our sight to 
catch fresh horses in the corral. 

In a gallop, if any thing was dropped by one of 
the peons, he would unhook, gallop back, and over- 
take the carriage without its stopping for him. I 
often thought how admirably in practice this mode 
of driving would suit the particular duties of that 
mMe branch of our army, the Horse Artillery. 

The rate at which the horses travel (if there are 



MODE OF TRAVELLING. 47 

enougli of them) is quite surprising. Our cart, 
although laden with twenty-five hundred weight of 
tools, kept up with the carriage at a hand-gallop. 
Very often, as the two vehicles were going at this 
pace, some of the peons, who were always in high 
spirits, would scream out, " Ah mi patron !" and 
then all shriek and gallop with the carriage after 
me; and very frequently I was unable to ride away 
from them. 

But strange as the account of this sort of driving 
may sound, the secret would be discovered by any 
one who could see the horses arrive. In England, 
horses are never seen in such a state ; the spurs, 
heels, and legs of the peons are literally bathed 
with blood, and from the sides of the horses the 
blood is constantly flowing rather than dropping. 

After this description, injustice to myself, I must 
say, that it is impossible to prevent it. The horses 
cannot trot, and it is impossible to draw the line 
between cantering and galloping, or, in merely 
passing through the country, to alter the system of 
riding, which all over the Pampas is cruel. 

The peons are capital horsemen, and several 
times we saw them at a gallop throw the rein on 



48 MODE OF TRAVELLING. 

tlie horse's neck, take from one pocket a bag of 
loose tobacco, and with a piece of paper, or a leaf 
of the Indian corn, make a segar, and then take 
out a flint and steel and light it. 

The post-huts are from twelve to thirty-six miles, 
and in one instance fifty-four miles, from each other; 
and as it would be impossible to drag a carriage 
these distances at a gallop, relays of horses are sent 
on with the carriage, and are sometimes changed 
five times in a stage. 

It is scarcely possible to conceive a wilder sight 
than our carriage and covered cart, as I often saw 
them*, galloping over the trackless plain, and pre- 
ceded or followed by a troop of from thirty to 
seventy wild horses, all loose and galloping, driven 
by a Gaucho and his son, and sometimes by a cou- 
ple of children. The picture seems to correspond 

-* I was one day observing them, instead of looking before 
me, when my horse fell in a biscachero, and rolled over upon 
my arm. It was so crushed that it made me very faint ; but 
before I could get into my saddle, the carriages were almost out 
of sight, and while the sky was still looking green from the 
pain I was enduring, I was obliged to ride after them, and I be- 
lieve I had seven miles to gallop as hard as my horse could go, 
before I could overtake the carriage to give up my horse. 



MODE or TEAVELLING. 49 

with the danger which positively exists in passing 
through uninhabited regions, which are so often 
invaded by the merciless Indians. 

^ ^ ;)J ^ sjc 

In riding across the Pampas, it is generally the 
custom to take an attendant, and people often wait 
to accompany some carriage ; or else, if they are in 
condition, ride with the courier, who gets to Men- 
doza in twelve or thirteen days. In case travellers 
wish to carry a bed and two small portmanteaus, 
they are placed upon one horse, which is either 
driven on before, or, by a halter, tied to the posti- 
lion's saddle. 

The most independent way of travelling is with- 
out baggage, and without an attendant. In this 
case, the traveller starts from Buenos Aires or Men- 
doza with a postilion, who is changed at every post. 
He has to saddle his own horses, and to sleep at 
night upon the ground on his saddle ; and as he is 
unable to carry any provisions, he must throw him- 
self completely on the feeble resources of the coun- 
try, and live on little else than beef and water. 

It is of course a hard life ; but it is so delight- 
fully independent, and if one is in good riding con- 



50 MODE OF TRAVELLING. 

ditioDj SO rapid a mode of travelling, that I twice 
chose it, and would always prefer it ; but I re- 
commend no one to attempt it, unless he is in good 
health and condition. 

When I first crossed the Pampas, I went with a 
carriage, and although I had been accustomed to 
riding all my life, I could not at all ride with the 
peons, and after galloping five or six hours was 
obliged to get into the carriage; but after I had 
been riding for three or four months, and had lived 
upon beef and water, I found myself in a condi- 
tion which I can only describe by saying that I felt 
no exertion could kill me. Although I constantly 
arrived so completely exhausted that I could not 
speak, yet a few hours' sleep upon my saddle, on 
the ground, always so completely restored me, that 
for a week I could daily be upon my horse before 
sunrise, could ride till two or three hours after 
sunset, and have really tired ten and twelve horses 
a day. This will explain the immense distances 
which people in South America are said to ride, 
which I am confident could only be done on beef 
and water. 

At first, the constant galloping confuses the head^ 



MODE OF TRAVELLING. 51 

and I have often been so giddy when I dismounted 
that I could scarcely stand; but the system, by de- 
grees^ gets accustomed to it, and it then becomes 
the most delightful life which one can possibly 
enjoy. It is delightful from its variety, and 
from the natural mode of reflecting v/hich it en- 
courages — for, in the grey of the morning, while 
the air is still frosty and fresh, while the cattle are 
looking wild and scared, and while the whole face 
of Nature has the appearance of youth and inno- 
cence, one indulges in those feelings and specula- 
tions in which, right or wrong, it is so agreeable to 
err; but the heat of the day, and the fatigue of 
the body, gradually bring the mind to reason ; 
before the sun has" set many opinions are corrected, 
and, as in the evening of life, one looks back with 
calm regret upon the past follies of the morning. 

In riding across the Pampas with a constant 
succession of Gauchos, I often observed that the 
children and the old men rode quicker than the 
young men. The children have no judgment, but 
they are so light, and always in such high spirits, 
that they skim over the ground very quickly. The 
old grey-headed Gaucho is a good horseman, with 



52 MODE OF TRAVELLING. 

great judgment, and although his pace is not quite 
so rapid as the children'^s, yet, from being constant 
and uniform, he arrives at his goal nearly in the 
same time. In riding with the young men, I 
found that the pace was unavoidably influenced by 
their passions, and by the subject on which we 
happened to converse ; and when we got to the 
post, I constantly found that, somehow or other, 
time had been lost. 

In crossing the Pampas it is absolutely necessary 
to be armed, as there are many robbers or saltea- 
dores, particularly in the desolate province of 
Santa Fe. 

The object of these people is of course money, 
and I therefore always rode so badly dressed, and 
so well armed, that although I once passed through 
them with no one but a child as a postilion, they 
thought it not worth their while to attack me. 
I always carried two brace of detonating pistols in 
a belt, and a short detonating double-barrelled gun 
in my hand. I made it a rule never to be an 
instant without my arms, and to cock both barrels 
of my gun whenever I met any Gauchos. 

With respect to the Indians, a person riding can 



MODE OF TRAVELLING. 53 

use no precaution, but must just run the gauntlet, 
and take his chance, which, if calculated, is a good 
one. 

If he fall in with them, he may be tortured and 
killed, but it is very improbable that he should 
happen to find them on the road ; however, they 
are so cunning, and ride so quick, and the country 
is so uninhabited, that it is impossible to gain any 
information about them : besides this, the people 
are so alarmed, and there are so many constant 
reports concerning them, that it becomes useless to 
attend to any, and I believe it is just as safe to ride 
towards the spot at which one hears they are, as to 
turn back. 

The greatest danger in riding alone across the 
Pampas, is the constant falls which the horses get 
in the holes of the biscachos. I calculated, that, 
upon an average, my horse fell with me in a 
gallop once in every three hundred miles; and 
although, from the ground being very soft, I was 
never seriously hurt, yet previous to starting one 
cannot help feehng what a forlorn situation it would 
be, to break a limb, or dislocate a joint, so many 
hundred miles from any sort of assistance. 



54 



TOWN OF SAN LUIS. 

"" ^ 5iC *i< ^ JfJ 

jti^iFTH day (from Buenos Aires). We arrived 
an hour after sunset — fortified postr— scrambling in 
the dark for the kitchen — cook unwilling — correo 
(the courier) gave us his dinner — ^huts of wild- 
looking people — three women and girls almost 
naked"^ — their strange appearance as they cooked our 
fowls. Our hut — old man immoveable — Maria or 
Marequita''s figure — little mongrel boy — three or 
four other persons. Roof supported in the centre 
by a crooked pole — holes in roof and walls — walls 
of mud, cracked and rent — a water-jug in the corner 
on a three-pronged stick — Floor, the earth — the 
eight hungry peons, by moonlight, standing with 
their knives in their hands over a sheep they were 
going to kill, and looking on their prey like relent- 
less tigers. 

* ^' They be so wild as the donkey," said one of the Cornish 
party, smiling ; he then very gravely added, " and there be one 
thing, sir, that I do observe, which is, that the farther we do go, 
the wilder things do get !" 



TOWN OF SAN LUIS. S5 

In the morning, morales and the peons standing 
by the fire — the blaze making the scene behind 
them dark and obscure — the horizon like the sea, 
except here and there the back of a cow to be seen 
— waggon and coach just discernable. 

In the hut all our party occupied with the 
baggage — lighted by a candle crooked and thin — 
Scene of urging the patron (Master) to get horses, 
and Marequita to get milk — the patron wakening 
the black boy. 

Twelfth day. — Left the post hut with three 
changes of horses to get to San Luis, distant thirty- 
six miles — inquired the way of one of the Gauchos 
who was drawing the carriage — he dismounted and 
traced it with his finger on the road — we were to 
turn off, when about three leagues, at a dead horse 
which we should see. I then galloped on with one 
of my party, knowing that we were to see no 
habitation until we got to San Luis — we had three 
hours and a half of day-light. About half way we 
began to think we had lost our path ; however, we 
were sure to be wrong if we stopped to debate, and 
we therefore galloped on. Our horses got tired. 



56 



TOWN OF SAN LUIS. 



and the sun was nearly setting without any appear- 
ance of houses, but as the lower edge touched the 
horizon, we discovered a hut, and riding up to it, 
we were informed by a little girl that we were near 
San Luis. We got to the post just as it was dark, 
and eagerly inquired of the wild group if there was 
an inn in the town. " No hai ! Senor ; no hai !^' 
We then inquired for beds. " No hai ! Senor ; no 
hai !"— « Is there a cafe ?'' '' No hai ! Senor," in 
exactly the same tone of voice. When we looked 
round us we found nothing but bare walls and fleas. 
We happened (that day) to have English saddles, 
and we therefore began to ask again about beds. 
The woman told us we should have hers, and in a 
few moments she brought mattress and all rolled 
up, and laid it down on the floor ; however, when 
I cast my eyes on the blanket, and above all the 
sheets, I begged in the most earnest manner, that 
she would let me have something a little cleaner. 
" Son limpias," (they are clean) said the woman, 
taking up the sheet, and pointing to a little spot 
which looked whiter than the rest. There was no 
use in arguing the point, so I walked out of the 
hut, leaving the corner of the sheet in the woman's 



TOWN OF SAN LUIS. 57 

hand, and declaring that it was quite impossible to 
sleep there. 

I went to the door of the Maestro de Posta 
(Postmaster), and told him that I had ridden all 
day without eating ; that I was very hungry, and 
begged to know what we could have: '' Lo que 
quiere, Senor, tenemos todo," (whatever you 
choose, we have everything). 

I knew too well what " todo" meant, and he 
accordingly explained to me that he had " carne de 
vacca and gallinas'' (beef and fowls). I ordered a 
fowl, and then went to my room. The sight of the 
bed again haunted me, and after looking at it for 
some time with every inclination to persuade my- 
self that it was even bearable, but in vain — I re- 
solved to go the Governor, deliver my letters, and 
see what I could do with him. 

I procured a guide, who was to lead me in 
the dark to the Governor's house. After walking 
some distance, "Aqui sta," said the man. " What 
is that it .?"" said I, pointing to a door at which 
some black naked children were standing. — No, it 
was the next house. 

The Governor was not at home, but I found his 



58 TOWN OF SAN LUIS. 

wife sitting on a bed, surrounded by ladies — re- 
quested to sit down, but hurried off to the Coro- 
nello— he was not at home, said a young lady, who 
begged me to sit down — Went to the barracks — 
my reception — an Ordenanza or soldier ordered to 
return with me to the post, to desire the Postmaster 
to treat me \vith particular respect — The town of 
San Luis by moonlight — no houses to be seen, but 
garden walls of mud — Went to look after my 
dinner — found the girl who was to cook it sitting in 
the smoke w^ith the peons. — I saw a black iron pot 
on the fire in which I supposed was my fowl — I 
asked if the fowl was there ? '' No. Senor, aqui 
sta," said the girl, throwing an old blanket off her 
bare shoulders, and showing me the fowl alive in 
her lap. I was going to complain, and I fear to 
swear, - but the smoke so got into my eyes and 
mouth that I could neither see nor speak. At last 
I asked for eggs, '^ No hai, Senor."" " Good 
heavens!" said I, *' in the capital of San Luis is 
there not one single egg?^'' "Yes," she said, 
but it was too late, she would get me some manana 
(to-morrow). She asked me if I liked cheese. — 
^' Oh, yes," said I, eagerly. — She gave me an enor- 



TOWN OF SAN LUIS. 59 

mous cheese, and insisted on my taking the whole 
of it, but she had no bread. 

I had hurt my right arm by my horse falling ; 
however, I carried the cheese into my room, and 
then did not know where to put it. The floor was 
filthy — the bed was worse, and there was nothing 
else ; so supporting it with my lame arm, I stood 
for some seconds moralizing on the state of the 
capital of the Province of San Luis. 



60 



JOURNEY TO THE GOLD MINES AND 
LAVADEROS OF LA CAROLINA. 

*!* 'i* *?* ^ 'i^ 

Started at day-break from San Luis, to go tq 
the Gold Mines and Lavaderos* of La Carolina, 
which are in the mountains on the north of the 
town. 

Drove a set of loose horses before us, and_> about 
twelve oVlock, stopped to change. 

The horses were driven to the edge of a preci- 
pice which was quite perpendicular, and which 
overhung a torrent, and we formed a semicircle 
about them while the peons began to catch them 
with the lasso, which they were much afraid of. 
The horses were so crowded and scared, that I 
expected they would all have been over the preci- 
pice : at last the hind-legs of one horse went down 
the cliff, and he hung in a most extraordinary man- 

* Alluvial soil which is washed for gold. 



GOLD MINES OF LA. CAROLINA 



61 



ner by the fore-legs, with his nose resting on the 
ground, as far from him as possible, to preserve 
his balance. As soon as we saw him in this 
situation, we allowed the other horses to escape, 
and in a moment the peon threw his lasso with 
the most surprising precision, and it went be- 
low the animaPs tail like the breeching of har- 
ness. We then all hauled upon it, and at last 
lifted the horse, and succeeded in dragging him 
up : during the whole time time he remained 
quiet, and to all appearance perfectly conscious 
that the slightest struggle would have been fatal to 
him. We then mounted our fresh horses, and 
although the path over the mountains was so steep 
and rugged, that we were occasionally obliged to 
jump a foot or two from one level to another, we 
scrambled along with the loose horses before us, at 
the rate of nine or ten miles an hour. 

In the evening, we came to a small stream of 
water, which led us to the wretched hamlet of La 
Carolina, which is close to the mine. 

A man offered us a shed to sleep in, which we 
readily accepted, and we then went into several of 
the huts, and conversed with the poor people, who 



U% JOURNEY TO THE 

had heard of rich English associations, and who 
thought we were come to give them everything 
they could desire. 

In the evening we got some supper, and slept on 
the ground in an out-house. We had observed a 
very savage dog tied up in the yard, which was 
constantly trying to get at us. In the middle of 
the niglit, while the moon was shining upon us 
through some holes in the roof, this dog walked 
in, and after smelhng us all, he went to sleep 
among us. 

The whole of the next day we spent in the mines 
and the lavaderos, and in the evening I walked 
alone into a little garden, and looked among the 
soil for gold. I really was able to find a very few 
particles, and it was singular to collect such a com- 
modity in the gardens of such very poor people. 

On my return I called at several of the huts, to 
receive some gold dust which I had promised to 
purchase of them. It happened that I had nothing 
but a quantity of four-dollar gold-pieces, and al- 
though they were current all over South America,. 
I found, to my very great astonishment, that no one 
here would take them, In vain I assured them of 



GOLD MINES OF LA CAROLINA. 6S 

their value^ but these poor people (accustomed to 
change gold for silver) all shook their fingers in 
my face, and in different voices exclaimed " No 
vale nada/' (gold is worth nothing,) and among such 
wild mountains, the great moral truth of their as- 
sertion rushed very forcibly into my mind. 

I offered them the piece of four dollars for what 
they only asked two and three dollars, but they 
would not take it ; and we had hardly silver 
enough among us to remunerate our landlord for 
the board and lodging which he had afforded us. 

Our horses which we had brought from San 
Louis were caught, and put into the corral the 
evening before we left the town, and they had con- 
sequently nothing to eat all that night. 

The following day, as I have stated, we rode 
them sixty miles, and as it was then too late to 
turn them out, they were kept by the peon in the 
yard all that night. 

The next day while we were inspecting the mines^ 
they were turned out for four or five hours to 
graze among stones and rocks, where there was ap- 
parently nothing for them to eat, and they were 
then brought into the yard, where they remained 



64 GOLD MINES OF LA CAROLINA. 

fasting all night. The next morning before day- 
break we mounted them, and rode sixty miles back 
to San Luis, and as some of the party came in. 
very late, I rather believe that the post-master 
kept them in his corral all night, and that the fol- 
lowing morning they were driven to the plain. 

The poor creatures must of course have suffered 
very much, but I did not kno^v that at Carolina 
there would have been nothing for them to eat; and 
when we were there, I believe it was merciful to 
them not to stay ; but the truth is, that the busi- 
ness I was on was of such importance, that I really 
had not time to think about it. 



65 



MENDOZA. 

The town of Mendoza is situated at the foot of 
the Andes, and the country around it is irrigated 
by cuts from th^ Rio de Mendoza. This river 
bounds the west side of the town, and from it, on 
the east side, there is a cut or canal about six feet 
wide, containing nearly as much water as would 
turn a large mill. This stream supplies the town 
with water, and at the same time adorns and re- 
freshes the Almeida or public walk. It' waters 
the streets which descend from it to the river, and 
can also be conducted into those which are at 
right angles. 

Mendoza is a neat small town, built upon the 
usual plan. The streets are all at right angles; 
there is a plaza or square, on one side of which 
is a large church, and several other churches 
and convents are scattered over the town. The 
houses are only one story high, and all the princi- 
pal ones have a porte cochere, which enters a small 



66 MENDOZA. 

court, round the four sides of which the house 
extends. 

The houses are built of mud, and are roofed 
with the same. The walls are white-washed, which 
gives them a neat appearance, but the insides of 
the houses, until they are white-washed, look hke 
an English barn. The walls are of course very 
soft ; occasionally a large piece of them comes off, 
and they are of that consistency, that, in a very 
few moments, a person, either with a spade or a 
pick-axe, could cut his way through any wall in 
the town. Several of the principal houses have 
glass in the window- sashes, but the greatest num- 
ber have not. The houses are almost all httle 
shops, and the goods displayed are principally 
English cottons. 

The inhabitants are apparently a very quiet, 
respectable set of people. The Governor, who is 
an old man, has the manners and the appearance of 
a gentleman: he has a large family of daughters, 
who are pleasing-looking girls. The men are 
dressed in blue or white jackets, without skirts. 
The women are only seen in the day sitting at their 
windows, in complete dishabille, but in the evening 



MENDOZA. 67 

they come upon the Almeida, dressed with a great 
deal of taste, in evening dresses and low gowns, 
and completely in the costume of London or Paris. 
The manner in which all the people seem to asso- 
ciate together, shews a great deal of good feeling 
and fellowship, and I certainly never saw less ap- 
parent jealousy in anyplace. 

The people, however, are extremely indolent. A 
little after eleven o'clock in the morning, the shop- 
keepers make preparations for the siesta ; they 
begin to yawn a little, and slowly to put back the 
articles which they have, d.uring the morning, dis« 
played on their tables. About a quarter before 
twelve they shut up the shops, the window-shutters 
throughout the town are closed, or nearly so, and 
no individual is to be seen until five, and sometimes 
until six o''clock, in the evening. 

During this time I used generally to walk about 

the town to make a few observations. It was really 

singular to stand at the corner of the right-angled 

streets, and in every direction to find such perfect 

solitude in the middle of the capital of a province. 

The noise occasioned by walking was like the echo 

which is heard in pacing by oneself up the long 

r2 



68 MENDOZA. 

aisle of a church or cathedral, and the scene re- 
sembled the deserted streets of Pompeii. 

In passing some of the houses I often heard 
people snoring, and when the siesta was over, I 
was often much amused at seeing the people awaken, 
for there is infinitely more truth and pleasure in 
thus looking behind the scenes of private life, than 
in making formal observations on man when dressed 
and prepared for his public performance. The 
people generally lie on the ground or floor of the 
room, and the group is often amusing. 

I saw one day an old man (who was one of the 
principal people in the town) fast asleep and happy. 
The old woman his wife was awake, and was sitting 
up in easy dishabille scratching herself, while her 
daughter, who was a very pretty-looking girl of 
about seventeen, was also awake, but was lying on 
her side kissing a cat. 

In the evening the scene begins to revive. The 
shops are opened ; a number of loads of grass are 
seen walking about the streets, for the horse that is 
carrying them is completely hid. Behind the load 
a boy stands on the extremity of the back ; and to 
mount and dismount he climbs up by the animaPs 



MENDOZA.' 69 

tail. A few Gauchos are riding about, selling fruit ; 
and a beggar on horseback is occasionally seen, with 
his hat in his hand, singing a psalm in a melancholy 
tone. 

As soon as the sun has set, the Almeida is crowded 
with people, and the scene is very singular and in- 
teresting. The men are sitting at tables, either 
smoking segars or eating ices : the ladies are sit- 
ting on the mud benches which are on both sides 
of the Almeida. This Almeida is a walk nearly a 
mile long, between two rows of tall poplars ; on 
one side of it are the garden-walls of the town, 
concealed by roses and shrubs, and on the other the 
stream of water which supplies the town. 

It will hardly be credited that, while this Almeida 
is filled with people, women of all ages, without 
clothes of any sort or kind, are bathing in great 
numbers in the stream which literally bounds the 
promenade. Shakespeare tells us, that " the cha- 
riest maid is prodigal enough if she unveil her 
beauties to the moon," but the ladies of Mendoza, 
not contented with this, appear e^'en before the 
sun ; and in the mornings and evenings they really 
bathe without any clothes in the Rio de Mendoza^ 



TO MENDOZA. 

the water of which is seldom up to their knees, the 
men and women all together ; and certainly, of all 
the scenes which in my life I have witnessed, I 
never beheld one so indescribable. 

However, to return to the Almeida : — the walk 
is often illuminated in a very simple manner by 
paper lamps, which are cut into the shapes of stars, 
and are lighted by a single candle. There is ge- 
nerally a band of music playing, and at the end of 
the walk is a temple built of mud, which is very 
elegant in its form, and of which it may truly be 
said '' materiam superabat opus/' 

The few evenings I was at Mendoza, I always 
went as a complete stranger to this Almeida to eat 
ices, which, after the heat of the day, were exceed- 
ingly delightful and refresliing ; and as I put spoon- 
ful after spoonful into my mouth, looking above 
me at the dark outline of the Cordillera, and hst- 
ening to the thunder which I could sometimes hear 
rumbling along the bottoms of the ravines, and 
sometimes resounding from the tops of the moun- 
tains, I used always to acknowledge, that if a man 
could but bear an indolent life, there can be no 
spot on earth where he might be more indolent and 



MENDOZA. 71 

more independent than at Mendoza, for he might 
sleep all day, and eat ices in the evening, until his 
hour-glass was out. Provisions are cheap, and the 
people who bring them quiet and civil ; the climate 
is exhausting, and the whole population indolent — 
*' Mais que^voulez-vous ? " how can the people of 
Mendoza be otherwise ? Their situation dooms 
them to inactivity; — they are bounded by the 
Andes and by the Pampas, and, with such formid* 
able and relentless barriers around them, what have 
they to do with the history, or the improvements, 
or the notions of the rest of the world ? Their 
wants are few, and nature readily supplies them,— 
the day is long, and therefore as soon as they have 
had their breakfasts, and have made a few arrange- 
ments for their supper, it is so very hot that they 
go to sleep, and what else could they do better ? 



7S 



THE PAMPAS. 

Returned to the Fonda in the evening at ten 
o'clock, and found the two horses standing in the 
yard with nothing to eat, and a young Gaucho, 
who was to accompany me as postilion^ lyi^^g on the 
ground asleep on his saddle. Next morning before^ 
day-break, got up, saddled my horse, and with my 
saddle as my bed, and some pistols and money, 
commenced my gallop for Buenos Ayres. 

Country to be described; — delightful feeling of 
independence at the mode of travelling — air frosty, 
and ground hard.— The sun rose, and shortly after, 
got to the first post. — Had a letter for the lady 
from her husband who was at Mendoza — went to 
give it to her, while the Gaucho who was to accom- 
pany me was driving the hoxses into the corral- 
found the lady in bed. — " Siente se, Senor," said 
she, pointing to an old chair which was at the head 
of the bed — sat down, and told her the letter was 



THE PAMPAS, 76 

from her husband — she placed it under her pillow, 
and then offered me some mate, but I had no time 
to wait for it, and started. 

At third post from Mendoza, the post-master, 
who might be exhibited in England as a curious 
specimen of an indolent man, to every thing I 
said, replied *' si''' — it was but an aspiration, and he* 
seemed never to have said any other word — I had 
twice passed his house, and it was always the same 
Si! 

Galloped on with no stopping, but merely to 
change horses until five o'clock in the evening — 
very tired indeed, but on coming to the , post-hut, 
saw the horses in the corral, and resolved to push 
on. — Started with a fresh horse, and a young 
Gaucho, who, singing as he went, galloped like the 
wind ; the sun set, and it got so dark, that, for. 
more than an hour, I expected that every moment 
the boy would get away from me, as the road was 
rough, and through wood. At half-past seven, 
after having galloped a hundred and fifty-three 
miles, and been fourteen hours and a half on horse- 
l^ack, got to the post — found the hut occupied by 
some people who had arrived in a carriage — quite 



74 T.HE PAMPAS. 

exhausted — nothing to eat — asked for bread, they 
had none — I really could scarcely speak — carried 
my saddle into a shed — two children asleep, and 
one black girl — lay down upon the ground, and 
instantly fell asleep — was awakened in two or three 
hours by the woman of the post, who had brought 
me some soup with meat in it — eat it all up, and 
again dropt off to sleep — an hour before daylight 
was awakened by the G audio who was to go with 
me. " Vamos, Senor !" said he, in a sharp, impa- 
tient tone of voice — got up, had some mate, 
mounted my horse, and as I galloped along felt 
pleased that the sun which had left me the evening 
before thirty miles nearer Mendoza, should find me 
at my work. At first post detained fifteen minutes 
for horses — the stage the longest between Mendoza 
and Buenos Ayres, being fifty-one miles— the 
woman would only give me one spare horse, which 
we drove before us. Galloped my horse till he came 
to a stand- stilly and then got on the fresh one, and 
left the postihon behind. In about an hour this other 
horse quite done up — by constant spurring could 
just keep him in a canter — at last down he fell, 
and my foot hung in the stirrup — my long spur 



THE PAMPAS. 75 

was also entangled in the sheep-skin which was 
above my saddle — saw by the panting of the 
horse's flank and nostrils that he was too tired to 
be off with me. Mounted and cantered him till 
he fell down on my other leg, and I was then lame 
on both legs — overtook a boy driving some loose 
horses — took one of them, and my horse was driven 
among the flock, until we came to the post. Post- 
master very kind, and ordered a Gaucho to give 
me an easy-going horse, as both my legs hurt me 
very much — started with a boy, but our horses 
were done up before we got to San Luis — obliged 
to walk part of the distance, and then by kicking 
and spurring got into San Luis just as the sun 
set. — See description of the post-house and town of 
San Luis. 

At San Luis was advised by groups of 
people, i*iot to go on by myself, as the courier and 
postilion (from Buenos Aires), with their horses 
and a dog, had j ust been found on the road with 
their throats cut — advised to join the courier who 
was just setting out for Buenos Aires. Accord- 
ingly, next morning started with the courier and 
three peons as guards, all armed with old pistols 



74 THE PAMPAS. 

and guns. Courier a little old man of about fifty- 
five years of age — had been riding all his life — had 
a face like a withered apple — carried his pistol in 
his hand — told me he was father to the courier who 
had just been murdered — that he was his only son 
— that he had just succeeded in getting him the 
appointment — that he was nineteen — and that it was 
his first journey as courier — that he had no pistols, 
not even a knife — that it was barbarous to kill him 
— that he must have died like a lamb, &c. &c. 
This story he repeated at every post-hut, and 
people were so fond of asking for it, and he so 
willing to give it, that we lost many minutes at 
each post. He would relate it to anybody — at 
one post he told it to a great rough mongrel-look-- 
ing fellow, who was sitting on a stone while a little 
girl was combing his woolly hair — •'' En (io<??"said 
the little girl who had divided his hair at the back 
of his head, and who proposed to plait it into two 
tails- — " Si !" grunted her father, half asleep, and. 
nodding his head, as he listened to the courier^s 
story. We therefore rode all day, and only went a 
hundred and two miles. — Next morning off before 
sunrise, and took a postilion, and travelling by 



THE PAMPAS. 77 

myself got on much quicker, but the horses still 
weak, and in the whole day could only proceed a 
hundred and ten miles. 

Two more days rode from morning till night, 
sleeping on the ground, with nothing to eat but 
beef — at last came to that part of the province of 
Santa Fe near which the courier had been mur- 
dered. The post-master refused to give me horses 
to go on unless I could find a guard, as he said the 
postilions would not go by themselves ; he insisted 
on my waiting for the courier, and I accordingly 
lost half a day, as he did not arrive till night. Next 
morning at day-break got up — saw the poor old 
courier lying on his saddle — he had a segar in his 
mouth, and for a long time he remained on his back 
praying and crossing himself — Started with the 
master of the post, an additional Gaucho, and the 
postilion, all armed — very little conversation. As we 
approached the spot, it appeared as if they all ex- 
pected that the Salteadores (robbers) would be 
there — after riding some leagues, left the road, and 
galloped through the dry grass towards a small 
black-looking hut in ruins. It was one of those 
which had been burnt by the Indians, and the whole 



78 THE PAMPAS. 

family had been murdered in it. When we got to 
it, I looked around me, and no other hut or habita- 
tion was to be seen ; there were no cattle, and when 
a few gamas (deer) , which for a few moments were 
in sight, had fled away, we were left completely to 
ourselves, and not a bird or any animal was to be 
seen. We were in the centre of a deserted pro- 
vince. We galloped up to the hut — ^it was built of 
large unbaked bricks and mud : the roof had been 
burnt — one of the gables had fallen to half its 
height — the other looked nearly falling — one wall 
had fallen, and we all rode up to this side of the 
hut — Close to us there was a deep well, into which 
the Salteadores had thrown all the bodies — first the 
courier and postilion, then the dog, and then the 
horses. The carcases of the horses lay before us — 
they were nearly eaten up by the eagles and bisca- 
chos. The dog had not been touched — he was a 
very large one — and from the heat of the weather, 
he was now bloated up to a size quite extraordinary 
— his throat was cut, and in my life I never saw so 
much expression in the countenance of a dead 
animal — his lip was curled up, and one could not 
but fancy that it expressed the feelings of rage and 



THE PAMPAS. 79 

fidelity under which he had evidently fought to the 
last. In the hut lay the bodies of the courier and 
postilion with their throats cut ^ — they were barely 
covered over with some of the loose bricks from the 
wall. Some pieces of the courier''s poncho were 
lying about, as also several of the covers of the 
letters which the murderers had opened. In the 
centre of the hut were the white ashes of a fire 
which they had kindled — at the corner of the hut 
tood a solitary peach-tree in blossom — its contrast 
with the scene before us was very striking. The 
old courier said something to the post-master, who 
immediately cUmbed upon the ruined wall, and 
threw down some loose bricks — he fell — burst of 
laughter — we all got off our horses, and we covered 
the bodies over with bricks — " Con que, Senores," 
said the old man, " haremos un oracion para el 
defunto*" — we all took off our hats, and stood 
round the pile—opposite were our horses looking 
at us — the old man had thrown the handkerchief 
off his head, and his beard, which was of four days 
growth, was quite white — ^he stood over the body 

* They had been taken out of the well by some Gauchos. 



80 THE PAMPAS. 

of his only son, and offered up some prayer, to 
which all the Gauchos joined their responses. I 
joined and crossed myself with them, for as the 
courier looked at me, I was anxious to assist in 
alleviating the sorrows of an old man, and enter- 
taining my own feelings, which it is not necessary 
to describe. 

As soon as the ceremony was over (it lasted about 
two minutes), we put on our hats. *' Con que, 
Senores," said the old man ; and after a long pause, 
" Vamos T' said he, upon which the party split 
into groups to hght segars. I had scarcely lighted 
mine, when the old man came up to light his. His 
son's body was at our feet, but he put his face 
close to mine, and as he was sucking and blowing, 
with that earnestness of countenance which is only 
known to those who are in the habit of lighting a 
segar, I could not help thinking what an odd 
scene was before me. However we mounted our 
horses — I took a last farewell look at the peach- 
tree, and we then all galloped across the dry 
brown grass, to regain the road, and the few mi- 
nutes of time which we had thus spent at the hut. 



THE PAMPAS. 81 



At some distance I saw a boy riding through the 
thistles and clover, and as he was swinging hori- 
zontally above his head the bolas or balls, I per- 
ceived he was hunting for ostriches, and I therefore 
rode up to him. 

He was a black boy of about fourteen years of 
age, slight, and well-made, but with scarcely any- 
thing on except the remains of a scarlet poncho. I 
asked him several questions — where he expected to 
find the ostriches, &c. &c. &c., to which he gave 
me no answer, but continued swinging the balls 
round his head, and looking about him. I was 
asking him some other insignificant questions, when 
he cut me short, by asking me if I would sell my 
spurs ; and before I had time to reply, an ostrich 
was in sight, and he darted away from me like an 
arrow. I was, just at the moment, among a group 
of biscacheros — my horse fell, and before I had 
got clear of them, the boy was on the horizon, and 
from the contempt with which he had left me, I 
did not feel inclined to follow him. 



8£ THE PAMPAS. 



The biscacho is found all over the plains of the 
Pampas. Like rabbits, they live in holes which 
are in groups in every direction, and which make 
galloping over these plains very dangerous. The 
manner, however, in which the horses recover 
themselves, when the ground over these subterra- 
nean galleries gives way, is quite extraordinary. 
In galloping after the ostriches, my horse has 
constantly broken in, sometimes with a hind leg, 
and sometimes with a fore one ; he has even come 
down on his nose, and yet recovered : however, the 
Gauchos occasionally meet with very serious acci- 
dents. I have often wondered how the wild horses 
could gallop about as they do in the dark, but I 
really believe they avoid the holes by smelhng 
them, for in riding across the country, when it has 
been so dark that I positively could not see my 
horse''s ears, I have constantly felt him, in his gallop, 
start a foot or two to the right or left, as if he had 
trod upon a serpent, which, I conceive, was to avoid 
one of these holes. Yet the horses do very often 
fall, and certainly, in the few months I was in the 



THE PAMPAS. 83 

Pampas, I got more falls than I ever before had, 
though in the habit of riding all my life. The 
Gauchos are occasionally killed by these biscache- 
ros, and often break a limb. 

In the middle of the Pampas I once found a 
Gaucho standing at the hut, with his left hand 
resting on the palm of his other hand, and appa- 
rently suffering great pain. He'told me his horse 
had just fallen with him in a biscachero, and he 
begged me to look at his hand. The large muscle 
of the thumb was very much swelled, and every 
time I touched it with my fore-iinger, the poor 
fellow opened his mouth, and lifted up one of his 
legs. Being quite puzzled with one side of his 
hand, I thought I would turn it round, and look 
at the other side, and upon doing so, it was in- 
stantly evident that the thumb was out of joint. I 
asked him if there was any doctor near ; the Gau- 
cho said he believed there was one at Cordova, but 
as it was five hundred miles off, he might as well 
have pointed to the moon. " Is there no person," 
said I, " nearer than Cordova, that understands 
any thing about it .? " "No hai, Senor," said the 
poor fellow. I asked him what he intended to do 

G 2 



84 



THE PAMPAS. 



with his thumb : he rephed that he had washed it 
with salt and water, and then he earnestly asked 
me if that was good for it ? ''Si! si! si!" said I, 
walking away in despair, for I thought it was use- 
less to hint to him, that '' not all the water in the 
wide rude sea" would put his thumb into its joint ; 
and although I knew it ought to be pulled, yet one 
is so ignorant of such operations, that not knowing 
in what direction, I therefore left the poor fellow 
looking at his thumb, in the same attitude in which 
I found him But, to return to the biscachos. 

These animals are never to be seen in the day, 
but as soon as the lower limb of the sun reaches 
the horizon, they are seen issuing from their holes 
in all directions, which are scattered in groups like 
little Yilkges all over the Pampas. The biscachos, 
when full grown, are nearly as large as badgers ; 
but their head resembles a rabbit, excepting that 
they have very large bushy whiskers. 

In the evening they sit outside their holes, 
and they all appear to be moralising. They are 
the most serious-looking animals I ever saw, and 
even the young ones are grey-headed, have mus- 
tachios, and look thoughtful and grave. 



THE PAMPAS. 85 

In the day-time their holes are always guarded 
by two little owls, who are never an instant away 
from their post. As one gallops by these owls, 
they always stand looking at the stranger, and then 
at each other, moving their old-fashioned heads in 
a manner which is quite ridiculous, until one rushes 
by them, when fear gets the better of their digni- 
fied looks, and they both run into the biscacho's 

hole. 

***** 



86 



THE PAMPAS— PROVINCE OF 
SANTA FE'. 

TuAVELLiNG from Buenos Aires to Mendoza by 
myself, with a virloche, or two-wheeled carriage — 
entrance behind — two side-seats — had two peons — 
Pizarro, who had already travelled twelve hundred 
miles, and Cruz, a friend of Pizarro, had travelled 
for three days a hundred and twenty miles a day — 
Pizarro's fidelity and attention — at night when he 
got in, his dark black face tired, and covered with 
dust and perspiration — his tongue looked dry, and 
his whole countenance jaded — yet his frame was 
hard as iron. His first object at night to get me 
something to eat — to send out for a live sheep — He 
made a fire and cooked my supper — as soon as I 
had supped, he brought me a candle at the carriage 
door, and watched me while I undrest to sleep 
there — then wished me good night, got his own 
supper, and slept on his saddle at the wheel of the 
carriage. As soon as I awoke, and, before day- 
light, anxious to get on, I used to call out " Pi- 



THE PAMPAS. 87 

zarro !" ''Aqui sta I'agua, Senor,^' said he, in a 
patient low tone of voice — ^lie knew I liked to have 
water to wash in the morning, and he used to get 
it for me, sometimes in a saucer, sometimes literally 
in a little mate cup, which did not hold more than 
an egg-shell, and in spite of his fatigue he was 
always up before I awoke, and waiting at the door 
of the carriage till I should call for him. 

Province of Santa Fe to be described — its wild, \ 
desolate appearance — ^has been so constantly ra- 
vaged by the Pampas Indians, that there are now 
no cattle in the whole province, and people are 
afraid to live there. On the right and left of the 
road, and distant thirty and forty miles, one occa- 
sionally sees the remains of a little hut which has 
been burnt by the Indians, and as one gallops 
along, the Gaucho relates how many people were 
murdered in each — ^how many infants slaughtered 
— and whether the women were killed or carried 
away. The old post-huts are also burnt — new ones 
have been built by the side of the ruins, but the 
rough plan of their construction shews the insecu- 
rity of their tenure. These huts are occupied only 
by men, who are themselves generally robbers, but 



88 THE PAMPAS. 

in a few instances their families are living with them. 
When one thinks of the dreadful fate which has 
befallen so many poor families in this province, 
and that any moment may bring the Indians again 
among them, it is really shocking to see women 
living in such a dreadful situation — to fancy that 
they should be so blind, and so heedless of experi- 
ence; — and it is distressing to see a number of inno- 
cent little children playing about the door of a hut, 
in which they may be all massacred, unconscious of 
the fate that may await them, or of the blood-thirsty, 
vindictive passions of man. 

We were in the centre of this dreary country — I 
always rode for a few stages in the morning, and I 
was with a young Gaucho of about fifteen years of 
age, who had been born in the province — his father 
and mother had been murdered by the Indians — he 
had been saved by a man who had galloped away 
with him, but he was then an infant, and remem- 
bered nothing of it. We passed the ruins of a hut 
which he said had belonged to his aunt — he said 
that, about two years ago, he was at that hut with his 
aunt and three of his cousins, who were young men 
— that while they were conversing together a boy gal- 



THE PAMPAS. 89 

loped by from the other post, and in passing the door 
screamed out, " Los Indios! los Indios !" — that he 
ran to the door, and saw them galloping towards the 
hut without hats, all naked, armed with long lances, 
striking their mouths with their bridle hands, and ut- 
tering a shriek, which he described as making the 
earth tremble— he said that there were two horses 
outside the hut, bridled, but not saddled — that he 
leapt upon the back of one and galloped away — that 
one of the young men jumped on the other, and 
followed him about twenty yards, but that then he 
said something about his mother, and rode back to 
the hut — that just as he got there the Indians sur- 
rounded the hut, and that the last time he saw his 
cousins they were standing at the door with their 
knives in their hands — that several of the Indians 
galloped after him, and followed him more than a 
mile, but that he was upon a horse which was 
<' muy ligero, (very swift) muy lig^ro," said the 
boy ; and as we galloped along he loosened his 
rein, and darting on before me, smiled at shewing 
me the manner in which he escaped, and then 
curbing his horse to a hand-gallop, continued his 
history. 



90 THE PAMPAS. 

He said that when the Indians found he was 
getting away from them, they turned back — that 
he escaped, and that when the Indians had left the 
province, which was two days after, he returned 
to the hut. He found it burnt, and saw his aunt's 
tongue sticking on one of the stakes of the corral ; 
her body was in the hut ; one of her feet was cut 
off at the ancle, and she had apparently bled to 
death. The three sons were outside the door 
naked, their bodies were covered with wounds, and 
their arms were gashed to the bone, by a series of 
cuts about an inch from each other, from the shoul- 
der to the wrist. 

The boy then left me at the next post, and I 
got into the carriage—the day getting hot, and the 
stage twenty-four miles. After galloping about an 
hour, I saw a large cloud of smoke on the horizon 
before me ; and as the Indians often burn the grass 
when they enter the country, I asked Pizarro what 
it was ? He rephed, " Quien sabe, — Senor, what 
it may be;" however, on we galloped. 

I took little notice of it, and began to think of 
the dreadful story the boy had told me, and of 
many similar ones which I had heard ; for I had 



THE PAMPAS. 91 

always endeavoured to get at the history of the 
huts which were burnt, although I always found 
that the Gauchos thought very little about it ; and 
that the story was sometimes altogether in oblivion, 
before time had crumbled into dust the tottering 
mud walls which were the monuments of such 
dreadful cruelties. 

It appears that the Pampas Indians, who, in 
spite of their ferocity, are a very brave and hand- 
some race of men, occasionally invade " los Cris- 
tianos," as the Gauchos always term themselves, 
for two objects — to steal cattle, and for the plea- 
sure of murdering the people ; and that they will 
even leave the cattle to massacre their enemies. 

In invading the country, they generally ride all 
night, and hide themselves on the ground during 
the day ; or, if they do travel, crouch almost 
under the bellies of their horses, who by this means 
appear to be dismounted and at liberty. They 
usually approach the huts at night at a full gal- 
lop, with their usual shriek, striking their mouths 
with their hands — and this cry, which is to inti- 
midate their enemies, is continued through the 
whole of the dreadful operation. 



9^ THE PAMPAS. 

Their first act is to set fire to the roof of the 
hut, and it is almost too dreadful to fancy what 
the feelings of a family must be, when, after hav- 
ing been alarmed hy the barking of the dogs, which 
the Gauchos always keep in great numbers, they 
first hear the w41d cry which announces their doom, 
and in an instant afterwards find that the roof is 
burning over their heads. 

As soon as the family rush out, w^hich they of 
course are obliged to do, the men are wounded by 
the Indians with their lances, which are eighteen 
feet long, and as soon as they fall they are stripped 
of their clothes ; for the Indians, who are very de- 
sirous to get the clothes of the Christians, are care- 
ful not to have them spoiled by blood. While 
some torture the men, others attack the children, 
and will literally run the infants through the body 
with their lances, and raise them to die in the air. 
The women are also attacked, and it would form 
a true but a dreadful picture to describe their fate, 
as it is decided by the momentary gleam which the 
burning roof throws upon their countenances. 

The old women, and the ugly young ones, are 
instantly butchered ; but the young and beautiful 



THE PAMPAS. 93 

are idols, by whom even the merciless hand of the 
savage is arrested. Whether the poor girls can 
ride or not, they are instantly placed upon horses, 
and when the hasty plunder of the hut is con- 
cluded, they are driven away from its smoking 
ruins, and from the horrid scene which surrounds it. 

At a pace which in Europe is unknown, they 
gallop over the trackless regions before them, fed 
upon mare's flesh, sleeping on the ground, until 
they arrive in the Indians' territory, when they 
have instantly to adopt the wild life of their 
captors. 

I was informed by a very intelHgent French Of- 
ficer, who was of high rank in the Peruvian army, 
that, on friendly terms, he had once passed through 
part of the territory of these Pampas Indians, in 
order to attack a tribe v/ho were at war with them, 
and that he had met several of the young women 
who had been thus carried off by the Indians. 

He told me that he had offered to obtain permis- 
sion for them to return to their country, and that 
he had, in addition, offered them large sums of 
money if they would, in the mean while, act as 
interpreters ; but they all replied, that no induce- 



94 THE PAMPAS. 

ment in the world should ever make them leave 
their husbands, or their children, and that they 
were quite delighted with the life they led. 

While I was sitting upon the side seat of the 
carriage, reflecting on the cruelties which had been 
exercised in a country which, in spite of its history, 
was really wild and beautiful, and which possessed 
an air of unrestrained freedom which is always ex- 
hilarating, I remarked that the carriage was only 
at a walk, an occurrence which in South America 
had never before happened to me, and in an instant 
it stopped. '' Vea, Senor,"' said Pizarro, with a firm 
countenance, as he turned back to speak to me, 
" que tanta gente !" he pointed with his right hand 
before him, and I saw that the smoke which I had 
before observed was dust, and in it I indistinctly 
saw a crowd of men on horseback in a sort of wild 
military array ; and on both flanks, at a great dis- 
tance off", individual horsemen, who were evidently 
on the look out to prevent a surprise. Our horses 
were completely tired; the whole body were 
coming rapidly towards us, and to mend the matter, 
Pizarro told me that he was afraid they were los 
Indios. " Senor," said he, with great coolness, and 



THE PAMPAS. 95 

yet with a look of despair, " Tiene armas a fuego P'" 
I told him I had none to spare, for I had only a short 
double-barrelled gun and two brace of pistols. "Aqui 
un sable, Pizarro!" said I, pushing the handle of a 
sabre towards him from the window of the carriao^e. 
''Que sable !'"' said he, almost angrily; and raising his 
right arm perpendicularly over his head, in a sort of 
despair, he added, *' contra tanta gente !" but while 
his arm was in the position described, " Vamos f 
said he, in a tone of determined courage, and giving 
his hand half a turn, he spurred his jaded horse, 
and advanced instantly at a walk. Poor Cruz, the 
other peon, seemed to view the subject altogether 
in a different light ; he said not a word, but as I 
cast a glance at him, I perceived that his horse, far 
from pulling the carriage, was now and then hang- 
ing back a little — a just picture of his rider's feel- 
ings. I could not help for a moment admiring 
Pizzaro's figure, as I saw him occasionally digging 
his spurs into the side of his horse, which had me, 
the carriage, Cruz, and his horse to draw along ; 
however, I now began to think of my own situa- 
tion. 

I earnestly wished I had never come into the 



96 THE PAMPAS. 

country, and thought how unsatisfactory it was to 
be tortured and killed by mistake in other people's 
quarrels — however, this would not do. I looked 
towards the cloud of dust, and it was evidently 
much nearer. In despair, I got my gun and pis- 
tols, which were all loaded, and when I had dis- 
posed of them, I opened a small canvas bag which 
contained all my ammunition gim.cracks, for my gun 
and pistols had all fulminating locks. I ranged all 
on the seat before me — the small powder-flask, the 
buck-shot, the bullets, the copper caps, and the 
punched cards; but the motion of the carriage 
danced them all together, and once or twice I felt 
inclined, in despair, to knock them all off the seat, 
for against so many people resistance was useless; 
however, on the other hand, mercy was hopeless, so 
I, at last, was driven to make the best of a very bad 
bargain. 

The carriage, which had a window at each of the 
four sides, had wooden blinds, which moved hori- 
zontally. I therefore shut them all, leaving an 
embrasure of about two inches, and then for some 
seconds I sat looking at the crowd which was 
coming towards us. 



THE PAMPAS. 97 

As they came close to us, for until then I could 
scarcely see them for dust, I perceived that they 
had no spears, and next that they wore clothes ; but 
as they had no uniforms I conceived that they were 
a crowd of Montaneros, who are quite as cruel as 
the Indians: however, as soon as they came to us, 
and when some of them had passed us, Pizarro 
pulled up and talked to them. They were a body 
of seven hundred wild Gauchos, collected and sent 
by the governors of Cordova and some other pro- 
vinces, to proceed to Buenos Aires to join the army 
against the Brazilians ; and on their flank they had 
scouts, to prevent a surprise by the Indians, who 
had invaded the country only a few weeks before. 

It was really a reprieve ; every thing I saw for 
the rest of the day pleased me — and for many days 
afterwards, I felt that I was enjoying a new lease 
of my life. 



H 



THE PAMPAS. 



Two days afterwards, I was riding near the car- 
riage, which was galloping along — Pizarro and 
Cruz looking fatigued and dirty, while the posti- 
lion before them, fresh and careless, was singing a 
Spanish song, when Pizarro's horse fell, and al- 
though Cruz tried to pull up, the postiHon's horse 
dragged Pizarro along the ground at least twenty 
yards. 

I really thought he was killed; however he 
quietly declared he was not hurt, and, without say- 
ing one other word, he adjusted his saddle, and 
galloped on to the next stage. As he was there 
mounting a young horse, which evidently had 
scarcely ever before been saddled, the creature 
plunged very violently. Pizarro was evidently 
weak from his accident, and, as he fell, the horse 
kicked him with both legs on his back. 

Still he declared he was not hurt, though he 
looked very faint, and could scarcely mount his 



THE PAMPAS. 99 

horse. I galloped on to the post-hut, and waited 
there more than an hour for the carriage. At 
last I saw it coming at a walk, and as soon as it 
drove up, Pizarro said he could go no farther. I 
was therefore obliged to order another boy as a 
postilion, and while they were catching the horses 
with the lasso, I was assisting poor Pizarro. I was 
very sorry to be obliged to leave him, particularly 
as he seemed so unwilling to leave me. I ga\e 
him some money, half a bottle of brandy, which 
was all I had ; and to a woman, who v/as a few years 
younger than Pizarro, and of the same mongrel 
breed as himself, I gave two dollars, to rub 
Pizarro's back three times a-day vnth the brandy ; 
and I put some salt into it, that the woman 
should not drink the brandy, instead of rubbing 
Pizarro's back with it. This being all I could do 
for him, I mounted my horse, and wishing him 
good-bye, to which he replied, " Senor, vaya con 
Dios," I left him. 

I desired the carriage to foUov/, and I rode from 
post to post ordering horses to be ready for the 
carriage, and got to San Luis about one o'clock 
in the morning. I was completely by myself, Vv^ith- 

H 2 , 



100 ' THE PAMPAS. 

out any postilion ; but, as it was a fine moon-light 
night, and as I had twice before travelled over the 
country, I managed to go the right road, and at 
five o'clock I again started to ride towards Men- 
doza. 



101 



THE PAMPAS. 



In the province of Santa Fe, a few of the posts 
are fortified to protect the inhabitants against the 
Indians. 

The fort is a very simple one. The huts are 
surrounded by a small ditch, which is sometimes 
fenced on the inside with a row of prickly pears. 

The ditch I have generally been able to jump 
over on foot, but no horse of the country would 
attempt to leap it. 

Most of these forts have often been attacked by 
the Indians ; and one of them I looked at with pe- 
culiar interest, as it had very lately been defended 
for nearly an hour by eight Gauchos against about 
three hundred Indians. The cattle, the women, 
and six families of little children, were all in the 
inside, spectators of a contest on which so much 
depended, and they described their feelings to me 
with a great deal of nature and expression. 

They said that the naked Indians rode up to the 



102 THE PA.MPAS. 

ditcli with a scream which was quite terrific, and 
that, finding that they could not cross it, the 
Cacique at last ordered them to get off their horses 
and pull down the gate. Two had dismounted, 
when the musket v/hich the Gauchos had, and 
which before had constantly missed fire, went ofF, 
and one of the Indians was shot. They then all 
galloped away ; but in a few seconds their Cacique 
led them on again with a terrible cry, and at a pace 
which was indescribable. They took up their dead 
comrade and then rode away, leaving two or three 
of their spears on the ground. 

One of these long spears was leaning against the 
hut, and as the Gauchos who had defended the 
place stood by it, muffled up in their ponchos, with 
two or three women suckling their infants, several 
children playing about them, and three or four 
beautiful girls looking up to them, I thought the 
spear was one of the proudest military trophies I 
had ever beheld. 

I could never learn that any of these forts had 
been taken by the Indians, who can do nothing on 
foot, and whose horses cannot leap ; but the ditches 
are so shallow and so narrow, that by kilhng a few 



THE PAMPAS. 103 

horses, and tumbling them in, they might in two 
minutes ride into any part of the place. 

I often asked the Gauchos why they did not de- 
fend themselves in the corral, which at first ap- 
peared to me to be a stronger position than the 
forts ; but they said that the Indians often brought 
lassos of hide, with which they could pull down the 
stakes of the corral ; that sometimes they made a 
fire against them, and that, besides this, their 
spears being eighteen feet in length, they were 
often able to kill every animal in the corraL 



104 



THE PAMPAS. 



The fear which all wild animals in America have 
of man is very singularly seen in the Pampas.' I 
often rode towards the ostriches and gamas, crouch- 
ing under the opposite side of my horse's neck ; 
but I always found that, although they would allow 
any loose horse to approach them, they, even when 
young, ran from me, though litde of my figure 
Avas visible ; and when one saw them all enjoy- 
ing themselves in such full liberty, it was at first 
not pleasing to observe that one's appearance was 
everywhere a signal to them that they should fly 
from their enemy. Yet it is by this fear that 
"man hath dominion over the beasts of the field," 
and there is no animal in South America that does 
not acknowledge this instinctive feeling. 

As a singular proof of the above, and of the dif- 
ference between the wild beasts of America and of the 
Old World, I will venture to relate a circumstance 



THE PAMPAS. 105 

which a man smcerely assured me had happened to 
him in South America. 

He was trying to shoot some wild ducks, and, in 
order to approach them unperceived, he put the 
corner of his poncho (which is a sort of long narrow 
blanket) over his head, and crawling along the 
ground upon his hands and knees, the poncho not 
only covered his body, but trailed along the ground 
behind him. As he was thus creeping by a large 
bush of reeds, he heard a loud sudden noise, be- 
tween a bark and roar : he felt something heavy 
strike his feet, and instantly jumping up, he saw, 
to his astonishment, a large male lion actually 
standing on his poncho, and perhaps the animal 
was equally astonished to find himself in the im- 
mediate presence of so athletic a man ! 
' The man told me he was unwilling to fire, as his 
gun was loaded w4th very small shot, and he there- 
fore stood his ground, and the lion stood on his 
poncho for many seconds ; at last he turned his 
bead, and walking very slowly away about ten 
yards, he stopped and turned again. The man 
still stood his ground, upon which the lion tacitly 
a,cknowledged his supremacy, and walked off. 



106 



THE PAMPAS. 

***** 
After being in the post-hut a few minutes, I 
heard a sigh, and looking into the corner from 
whence it proceeded, I saw an old sick woman 
lying on the ground. Her head was resting on a 
horse's skull, close to a great hole in the wall, and 
when she earnestly asked me if I had any thing 
^' por remedio," I instantly advised her to move her- 
self into a warmer corner. She was feverish and ill, 
and seemed disappointed at the advice I had given 
her — she did not understand what the hole in the 
wall could possibly have to do with her illness, and 
she again asked me if I had any " remedio." 

I had in my waistcoat pocket a little dirty paper 
parcel of calomel and jalap, which I had promised, 
much against my will, to carry with me, and which 
I had already twice carried across the Pampas. I 
did not exactly know how much there was of it, 
but I had a great mind to shake a Httle of it into 
the old woman's mouth, for I thought (as she had 
certainly never tasted calomel before) it would pro- 



THE PAMPAS. 107 

bably work a miracle within her ; however, she 
was so ill that, upon reflection, I did not feel au- 
thorised to give it to her, and besides I thought 
that if she died I should have to answer for it when 
I returned, so, partly from conscience and partly 
from prudence, I left her. 

I may observe that this old woman was the only 
sick person I ever saw in South America. The 
temperate lives the people lead apparently give 
them an uninterrupted enjoyment of health, and 
the hst of disorders with which the old world is 
afflicted is altogether unknown. The beef on which 
they almost entirely subsist is so lean and tough, 
that few are tempted to eat more than is necessary, 
and if a hungry Gaucho has swallowed too much 
of a wild cow, the cure which nature has to per- 
form is very simple. She has only by fever to de- 
prive him of his appetite for a day or two, and he 
is well again. 

I have often remarked that the Gaucho has no 
remedy for any small flesh wound, and does not 
even keep the dirt from it, for his habit of body is 
so healthy that the cure is positively going on as 
he gallops along the plain. 



108 



THE PAMPAS. 

***** 

I CAME to a post, and found horses in the corral, but 
the men all out. The woman told me they would 
be in soon, if I would wait. I saw a little child 
about seven years old, and said I would take him 
as a postilion. " Bi^n"" (very well), said the woman, 
upon which the little boy was going to say some- 
thing, but I took him by the arm, and leading him 
out to the corral, I caught our horses with a lasso 
which was lying on the ground. 

After we had started, and had ridden about a 
league, *' Oiga, Senor," said the little rosy -faced 
urchin, *' yo no soy vaqueano" (I do not know the 
road.) I took up my whip and frightened him on be- 
fore me ; but we were shortly overtaken by a man, 
who had galloped after us from the post as hard as 
his horse could go. He said he was the boy's father, 
that there were a number of " salteadores" (rob- 
bers) in the country — that it was not safe for the 
child, and that he had therefore come to conduct 
me. I had ridden more than a hundred miles, 



THE PAMPAS. 109 

was very tired, not at all inclined to talk, and the 
man steadily galloped on before me. '' Vea, Senor V 
(see !) said the little boy as he frisked by my side, 
pointing to some wild ducks in a pool, which he 
wanted me to shoot at with my pistols. 

His father was at this moment singing a wild 
sort of Spanish Hymn, and he had just got to the 
last note, upon which he was to hang for several 
seconds, when the merry little child, finding that 
there was no fun in me, loosened his rein, came up 
with his father, and gave his horse a blow as hard 
as he was able with the long whip which hung at 
his bridle, and then laughing, he darted away like 
a young colt, while his father with the greatest gra- 
vity continued the last note of his song. 



I arrived for the night at a hut, where there were 
fowlsj and I begged the woman to cook one of 
them immediately. 

As soon as the water in a large pot had boiled, 
the woman caught a hen, and killed it by holding 
its head in her hand ; and then, giving the bird 



110 THE PAMPAS. 

two or three turns in the air, to my horror and 
utter astonishment, she instantly put the fowl into 
the pot, feathers and ail ; and although I had 
resolved to rougli it on my journey, yet I posi- 
tively could not make up my mind to drink such 
broth or " potage au naturel" as I thought she was 
preparing for me. I ran to her, and, in very bad 
Spanish, loudly protested against her cookery; 
however, she quietly explained to me that she had 
only put the fowl there to scald it, and as soon as I 
let go her arm she took it out. The feathers all 
came off together, but they stuck to her fingers 
almost as fast as they had before to the fowl. 
After washing her hands^ she took a knife, and very 
neatly cut off the wings, the two legs, the breast 
and the back, which she put one after another into 
a small pot with some beef suet and water, and the 
rest of the fowl she threw^ away, 



in 



THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

When one compares the relative size of America 
with the rest of the world, it is singular to reflect on 
the history of those fellow-creatures who are the 
aborigines of the land ; and after viewing the wealth 
and beauty of so interesting a country, it is painful 
to consider what the sufferings of the Indians have 
been, and still may be. Whatever may be their 
physical or moral character, whether more or less 
puny in body or in mind than the inhabitants of 
the old world, still they are the human beings 
placed there by the Almighty ; the country be- 
longed to them, and they are therefore entitled to 
the regard of every man who has religion enough to 
believe that God has made nothing in vain, or 
whose mind is just enough to respect the persons 
and the rights of his fellow-creatures. 

A fair description of the Indians I believe does 
not exist. The Spaniards, on the discovery of the 
country, exterminated a large proportion of this 



\ 



112 THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

unfortunate race ; the rest they considered as beasts 
of burden, and during their short intervals of re- 
pose, the priests were ordered to explain to them, 
that their vast country belonged to the Pope at 
Rome. The Indians, unable to comprehend this 
claim, and sinking under the burdens which they 
w^ere doomed to carry, died in great numbers. It 
was therefore convenient to vote that they were im- 
becile both in body and mind ; the vote was se- 
conded by the greedy voice of avarice, and carried 
by the artifices of the designing, and the careless 
indolence of those who had no interest in the ques- 
tion : it became a statement which historians have 
now recorded. 

But although the inquiry has been thus lulled to 
rest, and is now the plausible excuse for our total 
ignorance on the subject, ought not the state of 
man in America to be infinitely more interesting 
than descriptions of its mines, its mountains, &c» 
&c. &c. 

During my gallop in America, I had little time 
or opportunity to see many of the Indians ; yet 
from what I did hear and see of them, I sincerely 
believe they are as fine a set of men as ever existed 



THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 113 

under the circumstances in which they are placed. 
In the mines I have seen them using tools which 
our miners declared they had not strength to work 
with, and carrying burdens which no man in 
England could support ; and I appeal to those tra- 
vellers who have been carried over the snow on 
their backs, whether they were able to have re- 
turned the compliment, and if not, what can be 
more grotesque than the figure of a civilized man 
riding upon the shoulders of a fellow- creature 
whose physical strength he has ventured to despise? 

The Indians of whom I heard the most were 
those who inhabit the vast unknown plains of the 
Pampas, and who are all horsemen, or rather pass 
their lives on horseback. The life they lead is sin- 
gularly interesting. In spite of the climate, which 
is burning hot in summer, and freezing in winter, 
these brave men, who have never yet been subdued, 
are entirely naked, and have not even a covering 
for their head. 

They live together in tribes, each of which is 
governed by a Cacique, but they have no fixed 
place of residence. Where the pasture is good 
there are they to be found, until it is consumed by 



114 THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

their horses, and they then mstantly move to a 
more verdant spot. They have neither bread, fruit, 
nor vegetables, but they subsist entirely on the flesh 
of their mares, which they never ride ; and the only 
luxury in which they indulge, is that of washing 
their hair in mare's blood. 

The occupation of their lives is war, which they 
consider is their noble and most natural employ- 
ment ; and they declare that the proudest attitude of 
the human figure is when, bending over his horse, 
man is riding at his enemy. The principal weapon 
which they use is a spear eighteen feet long ; they 
manage it with great dexterity, and are able to give 
it a tremulous motion which has often shaken the 
sword from the hand of their European adversaries. 

From being constantly on horseback, the Indians 
can scarely walk. This may seem singular, but 
from their infancy they are unaccustomed to it. 
Living in a boundless plain, it may easily be con- 
ceived, that all their occupations and amusements 
must necessarily be on horseback, and from riding 
so many hours the legs become weak, which natu- 
rally gives a disinclination to an exertion which 
every day becomes more fatiguing ; besides, the 



THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 115 

pace at which they can skim over the plains on 
horseback is so swift, in comparison to the rate 
they could crawl on foot, that the latter must seem 
a cheerless exertion. 

As a military nation they are much to be 
admired, and their system of warfare is more noble 
and perfect in its nature than that of any nation in 
the world. When they assemble, either to attack 
their enemies, or to invade the country of the 
Christians, with whom they are now at war, they 
collect large troops of horses and mares, and then 
uttering the wild shriek of war, they start at a 
gallop. As soon as the horses they ride are tired, , 
they vault upon the bare backs of fresh ones, 
keeping their best until they positively see their 
enemies. The whole country affords pasture to 
their horses, and whenever they choose to stop, they 
have only to kill some mares. The ground is the 
bed on which from their infancy they have always 
slept, and they therefore meet their enemies with 
light hearts and full stomachs, the only advantages 
which they think men ought to desire. 

How different this style of warfare is to the 
march of an army of our brave but Hmping, foot- 

I 2 



116 THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

sore men, crawling in the rain through muddy 
lanes, bending under their packs, while in their rear 
the mules, and forage, and packsaddles,and baggage, 
and waggons, and women — bullocks lying on the 
ground unable to proceed, &c. &c,, form a scene of 
despair and confusion which must always attend 
the army that walks instead of rides, and that eats 
cows* instead of horses. How impossible would it 
be for an European army to contend with such 
an aerial force. As well might it attempt to drive 
the swallows from the country, as to harm these 
naked warriors. 

A large body of these Indians twice crossed my 
^path, as I was riding from Buenos Aires to 
Mendoza and back again. They had just had an 
engagement with the Rio Plata troops, who killed 
several of them, and these were lying naked and 
dead on the plain not far from the road. Several 
of the Gauchos, who were engaged, told me that 
the Indians had fought most gallantly, but that 
all their horses were tired, or they could never 
have been attacked : the Gauchos, who themselves 

* On a long march it seldom happens that the bullocks are 
able to keep up with the men. 



THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 117 

ride so beautifully, all declare that it is impossible 
to ride with an Indian, for that the Indians' horses 
are better than theirs, and also that they have such 
a way of urging on their horses by their cries, and 
by a peculiar motion of their bodies, that even if 
they were to change horses, the Indians would beat 
them. The Gauchos all seemed to dread very 
much the Indians' spears. They said that some of 
the Indians charged without either bridle or saddle, 
and that in some instances they were hanging almost 
under the bellies of their horses, and shrieking, so 
that the horses were afraid to face them. As the 
Indians' horses got tired, they were met by fresh 
troops, and a great number of them were killed. 

To people accustomed to the cold passions of 
England, it would be impossible to describe the 
savage, inveterate, furious hatred which exists 
between the Gauchos and the Indians. The latter 
invade the country for the ecstatic pleasure of mur- 
dering the Christians, and in the contests which 
take place between them mercy is unknown. Be- 
fore I was quite aware of these feelings, I was 
galloping with a very fine-looking Gaucho, who 
had been fighting with the Indians, and after 



118 THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

listening to his report of the killed and wounded, I 
happened, very simply, to ask him, how many pri- 
soners they had taken ? The man replied by a 
look which I shall never forget — he clenched his 
teeth, opened his lips, and then sawing his fingers 
across his bare throat for a quarter of a minute, 
bending towards me, with his spurs striking into 
his horse's side, he said, in a sort of low, choking 
voice, «' Se matan todos," (we kill them all.) But 
this fate is what the Indian firmly expects, and 
from his earliest youth he is prepared to endure not 
only death, but tortures, if the fortune of war 
should throw him alive among his enemies; and 
yet how many there are who accuse the Indians of 
tliat imbecility of mind which in war bears the 
name of cowardice. The usual cause for this 
accusation is, that the Indians have almost always 
been known to fly from fire-arms. 

When first America was discovered, the Spaniards 
were regarded by the Indians as divinities, and 
perhaps there was nothing which tended to give 
them this distinction, more than their possessing 
weapons, which, resembling the lightning and the 
thunder of Heaven, sent death among them in a 



THK TAMFAb liNJDiAr^S. 



119 



manner which they could not avoid or comprehend ; 
and although the Christians are no longer considered 
as divine, yet the Indians are so little accustomed 
to, or understood the nature of iire-arms, that it is 
natural to suppose the danger of these weapons is 
greater in their minds than the reality. 

Accustomed to war among themselves with the 
lance, it is a danger also that they have not learnt 
to encounter ; and it is well known that men can 
learn to meet danger, and that they become familiar 
with its face, when, if the mask be changed, and it 
appear with unusual features, they again view it 
with terror. But even supposing that the Indians 
have no superstitious fear of fire-arms, but merely 
consider their positive effects, — is it not natural 
that they should fear them.? In Europe, or in 
England, what will people, with sticks in their 
hands, do against men who have fire-arms ? Why 
exactly what the naked Indians have been accused 
of doing — run away. — And who would not run 
away ? 

But the life which the Indian leads must satisfy- 
any unprejudiced person that he must necessarily 
possess high courage. His profession is War, his 



ISO THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

food is simple, and his body is in that state of 
health and vigour, that he can rise naked from the 
plain on which he has slept, and proudly look upon 
his image which the white frost has marked out 
upon the grass without inconvenience. What can 
we " men in buckram" say to this ? 

The life of such a people must certainly be very 
interesting, and I always regretted very much that 
I had not time to throw off my clothes and pay a 
visit to some of the tribes, which I should otherwise 
certainly have done, as, with proper precautions, 
there would have been little to fear ; for it would 
have been curious to have seen the young sporting 
about the plains in such a state of wild nature, and 
to have listened to the sentiments and opinions of 
the old ; and I would gladly have shivered through 
the cold nights, and have lived upon mare's flesh 
in the day, to have been a visitor among them. 

From individuals who had lived many years 
with them, I was informed that the religion of 
the Pampas Indians is very complicated. They 
believe in good spirits and bad ones, and they pray 
to both. If any of their friends die before they 
have reached the natural term of life, (which is very 



THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 1^1 

unusual^) they consider that some enemy has pre- 
vailed upon the evil spirit to kill their friend, and 
they assemble to determine who this enemy can be. 
They then denounce vengeance against him. These 
disputes have very fatal consequences, and have 
the political effect of alienating the tribes from one 
another, and of preventing that combination among 
the Indians which might make them much more 
dreaded by the Christians. 

They believe in a future state, to which they 
conceive they will be transferred as soon as they 
die. They expect that they will then be constantly 
drunk, and that they will always be hunting ; and 
as the Indians gallop over their plains at night, 
they will point with their spears to constellations 
in the Heavens, which they say are the figures of 
their Ancestors, who, reeling in the Firmament, are 
mounted upon horses swifter than the wind, and 
are hunting ostriches. 

They bury their dead, but at the grave they 
kill several of their best horses, as they believe that 
their friend would otherwise have nothing to ride. 
Their marriages are very simple. The couple to 
be married, as soon as the sun sets, are made to lie 



122 THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

on the ground with their heads towards the west. 
They are then covered with the skin of a horse, 
and as soon as the sun rises at their feet, they are 
pronounced to be married ^. 

The Indians are very fond of any sort of intoxi- 
cating Hquor, and when they are at peace with 
Mendoza, and some of the other provinces, they 
often bring skins of ostriches, hides, &c., to ex« 
change for knives, spurs, and hquor. 

The day of their arrival they generally get 
drunk, but before they indulge in this amusement, 
they deliberately deliver up to their Cacique their 
knives, and any other weapons they possess, as they 
are fully aware that they will quarrel as soon as 
the wine gets into their heads. They then drink 
till they can hardly see, and fight, and scratch, and 
bite, for the rest of the evening. The following 
day they devote to selling their goods, for they 
never will part with them on the day on which they 
resolve to be tipsy, as they say that in that state 
they would be unable to dispose of them to advan- 
tage. 

* I believe this would almost be a legal marriage in Scot- 
land. 



THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 123 

They will not sell their skins for money, which 
they declare is of no use, but exchange them for 
knives, spurs, mate, sugar, &c. They refuse to 
buy by weight, which they do not understand ; so 
they mark out upon a skin how much is to be 
covered with sugar, or anything of the sort which 
they desire to receive in barter for their property. 
After their business is concluded, they generally 
devote another day to Bacchus, and when they 
have got nearly sober, they mount their horses, and 
with a loose rein, and with their new spurs, they 
stagger and gallop away to their wild plains. 

Without describing any more of their customs, 
which I repeat only from hearsay, I must only 
again lament that the history of these people is not 
better known ; for, from many facts which I heard 
concerning them, I really beheve that they, as well 
as the Araucana Indians, possess many brave and 
estimable quahties. It is singular, however, to 
think how mutually they and the inhabitants of the 
old world are unacquainted with each other. These 
untamed soldiers know nothing of the governments, 
customs, habits, wants, luxuries, virtues, or folhes. 



124 THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

of our civilised world, and what does the civilised 
world know of them ? It votes them savages et 
voila tout ; but as soon as fire-arms shall get into 
the hands of these brave naked men, they will 
tumble into the political scale as suddenly as if 
they had fallen from the moon ; and while the civi- 
lized world is watching the puny contests of Spa- 
niards who were born in the old world, against 
their children who were born in the new one, and 
is arguing the cause of dependence versus inde- 
pendence, which in reality is but a quibble, the 
men that the ground belongs to will appear, and we 
shall then wonder how it is that we never felt for 
them, or cared for them, or hardly knew that they 
existed. 

It may to many appear improbable that they 
should be ever able to overturn any of the feeble 
governments which at present exist ; yet these men, 
without fire-arms, and with nothing in their hands 
but the lance, which is literally a reed, were twice 
within fifty leagues of Buenos Aires while I was 
in the country, and the Montaneros went among 
them while I was at San Luis, to offer to arm 



THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 1^5 

them. Besides this, the experience and history of 
the old world instruct us that the rise and fall of 
nations is a subject far beyond the scrutiny of man, 
and that, for reasons which we are unable to com- 
prehend, the wild and despised tribes of our own 
world have often rushed from the polar towards 
the equatorial regions, and like the atmosphere 
from the north, have chilled and checked the luxury 
of the south ; and therefore, however ill it may 
suit our politics to calculate upon such an event as 
the union of the Araucana and Pampas Indians, 
who can venture to say that the hour may not be 
decreed, when these men, mounted upon the de- 
scendants of the very horses which were brought 
over the Atlantic to oppress their forefathers, may 
rush from the cold region to which they have been 
driven, and with irresistible fury proclaim to the 
guilty conscience of our civilised world, that the 
hour of retribution has arrived ; that the sins of 
the fathers are visited upon the children ; that the 
descendants of Europeans are in their turn tram- 
pled under foot, and, in agony and torture, in vain 
are asking mercy from the naked Indians ? 

What a lesson this dreadful picture would aiFord ! 



1S6 THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 

However, it is neither my profession nor my wish to 
moralise ; but it is impossible for a solitary indi- 
vidual to pass over the magnificent regions of 
America, without respecting the fellow-creatures 
who were placed there by the Almighty. 



127 



PASSAGE ACROSS THE GREAT 
CORDILLERA. 

The mules were ordered at twelve o'clock, but 
did not arrive till four : we had been waiting for 
them with great impatience ; at last we heard the 
tinkling bell approaching, and they then came into 
the yard of the Eonda (inn) , driven by the capataz 
and one peon. The capataz was a tall stout man, 
with a bad expression of countenance : we found 
him cruel, lazy, insolent, cowardly, and careless of 
everything but eating, and all this easily to be read 
in his countenance. The peon was a handsome, 
slight-made, active young fellow. 

There were sixteen mules of different sizes and 
colours; they were all thin, but looked very 
healthy and hardy. One or two of them had 
dreadful sore backs, which I pointed out to the 
capataz, who promised to change them as soon as 
he got out of Mendoza. As my party consisted of 
eight people, and as we had baggage sufficient for 



128 PASSAGE ACROSS 

six mules, we had only two spare ones, and these 
unable to work ; whereas I learnt afterwards, that 
the capataz was bound to provide a much larger 
proportion of extra mules, but he was as greedy 
after lucre as he was after food, and to save a few 
dollars he would have worked his poor mules to 
death. However, I was then ignorant of the cus- 
toms of the country, and indeed did not know 
what was required for the journey I was about to 
take ; and anxious to be off, I ordered the mules to 
be saddled. 

As soon as this was done, the baggage-mules 
were to be got ready. The capataz said he could 
not load them, until every article of baggage was 
brought into the yard, and accordingly he made a 
great heap of it. He and the peon then divided it 
into six parcels, quite different from each other in 
weight or bulk, but adapted to the strength of the 
different mules. 

The operation of loading then began. The 
peon first caught a great brown mule with his 
lasso, and he then put a poncho over his eyes, and 
tied it under his throat, leaving the animaPs nose 
and mouth uncovered. The mule instantly stood 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA, 129 

Still, while the capataz and peon first put on the 
large straw pack-saddle, which they girthed to him 
in such a manner that nothing could move it. 
They then placed the articles one by one on each 
side, and bound them all together, with a force and 
ingenuity against which it was hopeless for the 
mule to contend. 

One could not help pitying the poor animal, on 
seeing him thus prepared for carrying a heavy 
load such a wearisome distance, and over such lofty 
mountains as the Andes ; yet it is truly amusing 
to watch the nose and mouth of a mule, when his 
eyes are blinded, and his ears pressed down upon 
his neck in the poncho. Every movement which 
is made about him, either to arrange his saddle or 
his load, is resented by a curl of his nose and upper 
lip, which in ten thousand wrinkles is expressive, 
beyond description, of every thing that is vicious 
and spiteful : he appears to be planning all sorts of 
petty tricks of revenge, and as soon as the poncho is 
taken off, generally begins to put some of them into 
execution, either by running with his load against 
some brother mule, or by kicking him ; however, 
as soon as he finds that his burden is not to be got 



130 PASSAGE ACROSS 

rid of, he dismisses, or perhaps conceals, his re- 
sentment, and instantly assumes a look of patience 
and resignation, which are really also the cha- 
racteristics of his race, and Avhich support them 
under all their suiferings and privations. 

As soon as the baggage-mules were ready, we 
took up our pistols and carbines, and after mount- 
ing our mules, and shaking hands with the crowd 
who had assembled in the yard, we bade adieu to the 
Fonda of Mendoza. The last person that I bade 
farewell to, was the old black cook, who was really 
crying to see us go. She was one of the most 
warm-hearted and faithful creatures I had ever met 
with. She came to me just before I started, to 
beg me to take care of myself, and she was then 
half laughing and half crying. I was at the 
moment going to throw away a pair of green 
goggle- spectacles, with shining, lackered rims^ 
•which I had bought to cross the snow of the Cor- 
dillera, but which I had just condemned as trouble- 
some and useless ; however, seeing the old woman's 
grief, I gave them to her, and put them on the 
bridge of her short black nose, sticking the ends of 
them into her woolly hair. She considered it. 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 131 

perhaps, as an act of kindness, and began to cry ; 
and although the group around us were roar- 
ing with laughter, the spectacles remained on her 
nose all the time I was conversing with her. She 
then took them ofF, and looking at them with great 
pride and delight, put them into the bosom of her 
gown. 

The saddling of the mules had taken up so much' 
time that the sun had nearly set. It was still op- 
pressively hot; however, the siesta, which with 
eating, <^c., is in Mendoza an operation of six hours, 
was over, and the people were standing at their 
doors to see us pass ; but as we y/ent by the Almeida 
road, we soon got out of the town. In the stream 
which runs along the row of poplars which shade 
this Almeida, or public walk, the people were bath- 
ing as usual, without any dresses, and apparently 
regardless of each other. The young called out 
to us, and many jokes were taken and given. 

After passing the long Almeida, the road, for 
about two leagues, passes through a country artifi- 
cially irrigated from the Rio de Mendoza, and its 
luxuriance and fertility are quite extraordinary. 
The brown mud walls which bound the road were 

K 2 



13S PASSAGE ACROSS 

covered with grapes, which hung down in beautiful 
chisters; and the number of peach-trees, loaded 
with fruit, and scattered among rich crops of corn 
and other agricultural produce, gave the scene an 
appearance of great luxury and abundance ; while 
the mountains of the Cordillera formed a magnifi- 
cent boundary to a picture which, to one about 
to cross the Andes, is peculiarly interesting. As 
soon as the boundary of irrigation is passed, the 
country ceases to be productive. The soil, light 
and sandy, produces no sort of herbage, and for 
more than thirty miles, the road, as it approaches 
the mountains, passes through a plain, which bears 
nothing but low stunted shrubs ; and when one con- 
siders that such has probably been its produce since 
the creation of the world, it is surprising to see that 
vegetation, so nearly extinct, should have lingered 
so long without expiring. However, its existence 
in these plains proves that they are capable of pro- 
ducing crops for man, whenever his industry will 
seek for the treasure. 

The road across this flat country is always te- 
dious; for the mountains, on leaving Mendoza, 
appear within three or four miles of the town, and 



THE GREAT CORDILLEllA. 133 

the path seems literally to lengthen as one goes. 
We found it particularly so, as we had to travel in 
a night which was unusually dark. The plain be- 
fore us was not visible, while the black outline of 
the mountains against the sky appeared close to us, 
or rather immediately above us. However, we at 
last got to the first ravine of the Cordillera ; and 
then, with the noble mountains towering over our 
heads, sometimes lost in darkness, and sometimes 
marked out by the few stars which were visible, we 
followed the sound of the water, until the distant 
light at the post-hut, and the barking of the dog& 
as they came rushing towards us, told us that we 
should now cross the stream, which we did, and 
then rode up to the post. The dogs continued 
barking, and occasionally biting at our mules' tails, 
until the postmaster and another man came to us. 
They were sleeping by the embers of a fire, in the 
kitchen or shed which was before us. One side 
was completely open, the other three were of 
boughs wattled, but so open that the smoke easily 
escaped. 

The post of Villa Vicencia, which in all the 
maps of South America looks so respectable, now 



134j passage across 

consists of a solitary hut without a window, with a 
bullock's hide for a door, and with very little roof. 
As the night was cold, I preferred sleeping in the 
kitchen by the fire, leaving the mules to do as 
they chose, and to go wherever their fancies might 
incline them. I took for my pillow one of the 
horses' skulls, which in South America are used as 
chairs, and wrapping myself up in my poncho, I 
dropped off to sleep. When I awoke, which was 
before daybreak, I found two peons and one of my 
party asleep round the fire, and. a great dog snoring 
at my back. 

I called out for the capataz,^ who came to me 
rubbing his eyes, and looking dirty and sleepy, 
and I told him to go after his mules ; but one of 
the men said that the peon was already gone. Our 
men were also up, preparing some soup, and as the 
day began to dawn, and as the mules did not 
appear, I resolved to find out the baths, which are 
about a mile ofi^. I followed a path until I came 
to a spot where I was surrounded by hiUs, which it 
seemed quite impossible to climb even on hands 
and knees; however, on proceeding, I found a sin- 
gular passage cut in the rock, and climbing up to 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 1$$ 

it, came suddenly to a little spot, in which were 
the ruins of two or three huts, and three or four 
tents. 

The huts and the tents were swarming with 
people, and the discovery of twenty or thirty fel- 
low-creatures in such a sequestered spot was alto- 
gether unexpected. They had come there from 
great distances for the purpose of bathing, and 
many of them I afterwards learnt were very re- 
spectable people. As I had no time to lose, and 
wanted to bathe, I. asked a man who was looking 
out of a tent, where the baths were? With the 
indifference and indolence usual in the country, he 
made no reply, but he pointed with his chin to 
some little walls close before him, two or three feet 
high, built with loose stones and in ruins. I was 
also close to them, so I took off my jacket and my 
belt of pistols, and walked towards them ; but not 
believing they could be baths, I looked towards the 
man, and asked him if they were there. He made 
with his head the usual sign of " Si ;" so I walked 
towards the walls, and to my astonishment I found 
a hole a little bigger than a coffin, with a woman 
lying in ^ : ! Seeing that there was no room for me 



136 PASSAGE ACROSS 

there, I reconnoitred the spot, and found another 
hole about ten yards above the lady, and another 
about the same distance below her. As the water 
ran from the one to the other, I thought I might as 
well act the part of the wolf as be the lamb, and I 
therefore went up the stream, and got into the 
upper bath. I found the water very hot and agree- 
able ; and without troubling myself about its ana- 
lysis, drank some from the spot where it issued 
from the ground, and feeling that I had then given 
it a fair trial, I set off to return. In passing the 
huts and the tents I looked into them ; — they were 
crowded with men, women, and children, of all ages, 
and mingled together in a way which would not 
altogether be admitted at our English bathing- 
places ; but among the Andes customs and ideas 
are different, and if a lady has there the rheu- 
matism, she sees no harm in trying to wash it away 
by the waters of Villa Vicencia. 

As soon as I got back to the post-hut I found 
the mules all saddled; so, after drinking some 
soup and eating a piece of the hind-leg of a gua- 
naco, I set off for Uspallata, where it was pro- 
posed we should sleep. 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 13T 

The road, on leaving Villa Vicencia, instantly 
turns up a ravine, which is one of the finest passes 
in the Cordillera. The mountains are extremely- 
steep on both sides, and, as the ravine winds in 
many directions, one often comes to a spot which 
has the appearance of a Cul-de-Sac, from which 
there is no exit to be seen. In some places the 
rock hangs perpendicularly over-head, and the 
enormous fragments which nearly block up the 
road, contrasted with those which appear to be on 
the point of falling, add to the danger and to the 
grandeur of the scene. As we were passing we saw a 
guanaco on the very highest summit of one of the 
mountains. He was there evidently for safety ; 
and as he stood against the blue sky, his attitude, 
as he earnestly watched us, was very expressive of 
his wild free life ; and his small head and thin neck 
denoted the speed with which he was about to save 
himself. 

I had ridden on by myself about fifteen miles, 
and had gained, by a constant ascent, the summit of 
the Paramillo, the high range of mountains which 
overhang Villa Vicencia. The view from this point 
is very interesting. The ground continues level 



138 PASSAGE ACROSS 

for a short distance, and then rapidly descends 
towards the valley of Uspallata, which is about 
tliirty miles oif. 

This valley is the upper base of the great range 
of the Cordilleras ; and it is, at first, surprising to 
see that the hills of the Paramillo, which had 
appeared so lofty, are very humble features com- 
pared with the stupendous barrier which, in spite 
of its distance, appears to be on the point of 
obstructing the passage. 

This enormous mass of stone, for it appears to 
be perfectly barren, is so wild and rude in its 
features and construction, that no one would judge 
that any animal could force its way across the sum- 
mit, which, covered with snow, in some places 
eternal, seems to be a region between the heavens 
and the practicable habitation of man ; and indeed 
to attempt to pass it, except by following up in a 
ravine the course of a torrent, would be altogether 
impossible. 

From the Paramillo, the view on the east, or 
contrary direction, is also very interesting. It is 
pleasing to look down on the difficulties which 
have been surmounted even to gain this point; and 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 139 

beyond is a vast expanse of v/bat, at first, very 
much resembles the ocean, but which one soon re- 
cognises as the vast plains of Mendoza and the 
Pampas. 

The natural exhalation from the earth covers 
them with a cloud of uncertainty : places which 
one has heard talked of as points of importance 
are lost in space, and the hopes and passions and 
existence of mankind are buried in the atmosphere 
which supports them. But one has not much 
time for moralizing on the summit of the Para- 
millo, for it is such a windy spot, that a man's 
most rational exertion there is to hold on his hat ; 
and as the large broad-brimmed one, whicji I 
had purchased at Mendoza, made several attempts 
to return there, I and my mule proceeded towards 
the valley of Uspallata. After going a league or 
two, I observed on both sides of me large tawny- 
coloured fungus-looking substances, which in size, 
shape, and colour, so resembled lions lying on the 
ground, that sometimes I really could not distin- 
guish whether they were or not. 

In the Pampas I had always observed the singu- 
lar manner in which all animals, particularly birds. 



140 PASSAGE ACROSS 

are there protected from their enemies by plants or 
foliage which resemble them ;- and as I knew there 
were a great number of lions about Villa Vicencia, 
and could see the track of their large feet in my 
path, I began to think that some of them were 
really lying before me. However, it seemed foolish 
to stop, and therefore I continued for some time ; at 
last, coming to a small coppery vein in the rock, I 
thought it would be a good excuse to inspect it, so 
I remained there cracking the stones till two of my 
party came up, and their first observation to me 
was, how very like the substances around us were 
to lions. 

One of the party had a horse's leg in his hand. 
He told me that he had never been so tired in his 
life ; that his mule, in mounting the hill, had be- 
come quite exhausted ; and that, when he got off to 
lead her, she would not follow him : that, in de- 
spair, he made her drink up his flask of brandy, 
and that then, taking as a whip a dried-up borsch's 
leg that was lying on the ground, he remounted 
the mule, which had gone very well ever since ; 
'* But, Sir," said my honest companion, " whether 
it be the brandy that has got into her head, or the 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 14)1 

notion of being beaten with a horse's leg that has 
urged her on, I cannot tell you/' 

We continued our course together, and descend- 
ing the hill, came to the district in which the Us- 
pallata Mines are situated. The climate of the 
country in which these mines are situated is what 
would naturally be expected from its latitude and 
elevation. The former places it under a hot sun, 
the latter imparts to it a considerable degree of 
cold ; and as the air is both dry and rarefied, there 
is little refraction, and consequently the heat and 
light of day vanish almost as soon as the sun is 
below the horizon. In visiting these mines in winter 
we found the days hotter than the summer in Eng- 
land, when at night the water constantly froze hard 
by our sides as we slept crowded together in the 
small hut. The whole of the country is the most 
barren I ever witnessed, and from this singular 
cause, that it never rains there*. 

* Without attempting to explain the cause of this pheno- 
menon, the following are some of the facts on which the state- 
ment is founded : — 

1. The huts at several of the mines are built exactly across 
the ravine, in such a manner, that if water was ever to come 



142 PASSAGE ACROSS 

The soil consists of the decomposed rock, which 
remains on the steep surface of the mountain, and 
rolls from under the foot like the loose cinders of 
Etna and Vesuvius : there is no herbage of any 
sort or kind upon it. A few low, resinous shrubs 
are scattered about ; but^ from the severity of the 
climate, in most places they grow along the ground. 
The dead animals which are lying about are all 
dried up in their skins, and have a most singular 
appearance : indeed the whole scene is a very strik- 
ing example of what a desert the earth would be 
without water. One of the Cornish miners, after 
gazing about him with astonishment, took up a 
handful of the green barren soil, and looking into 
it with great attention, he said, " Why, surely 
there must be poison in this ground !" 



down the ravine, it must necessarily pass through the huts, or 
over them. 

2. One of the lodes runs up the bottom of a ravine, and the 
old shafts which are formed in it are in the natural drain of the 
ravine. These shafts at bottom are dry, and have no appear- 
ance of having contained water. 

S. The miner, who, to keep possession of the mines, had 
lived there alone for two years, told us, that during that time it 
had not rained once. 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. H3 

We had scarcely passed the mines when the sun 
set, and akhough we saw the post-hut of Uspal- 
lata, yet we had great difficuky m reaching it. The 
rest of the party were lost, and did not arrive til] 
midnight. My first object was to get something 
for our poor mules ; there was very little in the 
plain except hot stones and resinous shrubs, but I 
learnt from the man that he had a potrero (or en- 
closed field) full of grass : he began a long story 
about how much I was to pay — however, I cut him 
very short, and sent him off with the mules, who, 
poor things, were no doubt delighted with their 
unexpected supper. 

We then earnestly inquired of the man what he 
had for us to eat? And as we all three stood 
round him, our earnest and greedy looks w^ere an 
amusing contrast to the calm tranquillity with 
which he replied " No hai," to everything w-e 
asked for ; at last we found out that he had got 
dry peaches and live goats. We put some of the 
former into a pot to boil, and in process of time 
the boy, who was sent out on horseback with a 
lasso to catch a goat, arrived. The little fellow 
could not kill it, and the man was gone for wood ; 



144 PASSAGE ACROSS 

SO partly to put an end to the animars fears, and 
partly because I was very hungry, I put a pistol 
to his ear, and in a short time he was roasting on 
the burning embers. 

At this moment an English lady, a child about 
seven years old, two or three younger ones, and a 
party of peons arrived. They had, with no other 
protection, passed the Cordillera, and had ridden 
for twelve or fourteen hours that day in order to 
get to Uspallata. 

The situation of a country-woman with a family 
of little children interested us very much, and it 
was pleasing to hear that they had crossed the Cor- 
dillera without any accident. The eldest child, 
who was a very fine boy, had ridden the whole 
way, but the other little chubby-faced creatures 
had each been carried upon a pillow in front of the 
peons' saddles. ' ■ 

In the history of the hut of Villa Vicencia I had 
often heard that, in spite of its desert situation and 
want of comfort, an English lady, who was passing 
with her husband to Chili about seven or eight 
years ago, had been confined there, and had re- 
mained there until she and her little infant were 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 145 

capable of prosecuting their perilous journey ; and 
v/hen I saw the wretched abode, I had often felt 
how cheerless it must have been for her to have 
remained there so long. 

The lady who now came to Uspallata was the 
very person w^hose singular sufferings I have de- 
scribed, and the fine little boy was the child that 
was born at Villa Vicencia. He had been in Chili 
ever since, and now the little manly fellow had 
ridden across the Cordillera, and was about to in- 
troduce his brothers and sisters to the wild hovel in 
which it had been decreed that he should be born. 

In the morning, before daybreak, we made pre- 
parations for starting. Some part of the goat was to 
form our breakfast ; we had some tea with us, and 
I was very anxious to get some milk, but when I 
asked the man, he replied, " Leche no hai," with a 
look that seemed to doubt there being any in the 
universe. The cows, he said, were four leagues 
oiF, and that they would not come for a couple of 
hours. '' Have the goats no milk?" asked I ; the 
fellow laughed at the idea ; however I found out 
that they had kids, and I therefore insisted on his 



146 PASSAGE ACROSS 

sending the boy for a she-goat. This order was 
complied with, and in a short time the boy came, 
dragging a poor creature with his lasso. She was 
altogether scared, and was leaping and jumping to 
get away ; however, our peons helped, and she 
was thrown down upon her side. One peon knelt 
upon her head, and one of our men held her hind 
legs, while the boy milked her on one side, and 
then turning her round, in spite of her struggles, 
she was milked on the other side. They then let 
her go, and happy was she at regaining her liberty, 
after being scared at the uncouth operation she had 
just undergone. 

The mules were now nearly laden, when one of 
the Cornish miners told me that the capataz wanted 
to put baggage upon the mule which had got a sore 
back, and which, according to his agreement, he 
ought to have changed at Mendoza. I instantly 
went to the capataz, and found him with his long 
knife in his hand, actually cutting the poor crea- 
ture's back, preparatory to putting on the pack- 
saddle. I told him to desist, but he was explain- 
ing to me how he was going to place the saddle, so 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 147 

that it should not hurt the mule, and he was just 
going to put on a small straw-pad, when I at once 
put an end to the argument. As soon as the bag- 
gage ^vas ready, we threw upon it two or three 
dead sheep, and, in quitting Uspallata, took leave 
of the last inhabited hut on the east side of the 
Cordillera. 

I was steadily riding my mule at the rate of five 
miles an hour, in order to measure by my watch 
the breadth of the plains of Uspallata, when we 
met an old Gaucho huntsman, with two lads, and 
a number of dogs, which at once put a stop to my 
calculation. He had several loose horses, over one 
of which was hanging the carcass of a guanaco. 

He had been hunting for hons, and had been 
among the mountains for two days, but had had 
little sport. The Gaucho was a fine picture of an 
old sportsman. Round his body were the " bolas" 
(balls), which were covered with clotted blood .- 
His knees were admirably protected from the bushes 
by a hide which was under his saddle, and which 
in front had the appearance of gambadoes. 

He was mounted on a good horse, his lasso in 
coih hung at his saddle. As soon as we stopped, he 

L 2 



148 PASSAGE ACROSS 

was surrounded by his dogs, which were a very odd 
pack. Some of them were very large, and some 
quite small, and they seemed to be all of different 
breeds ; many had been lamed by the lions and 
tigers, and several bore honourable scars. I re- 
gretted very much indeed that I had not time to 
follow the sport, which must have been highly 
interesting. 

As soon as the dogs unkennel a lion or a tiger, 
they pursue him until he stops to defend himself. 
If the dogs fly upon him, the Gaucho jumps off his 
horse, and while the animal is contending with his 
enemies, he strikes him on the head with the balls, 
to which an extraordinary momentum can be given. 
If the dogs are at bay, and afraid to attack their 
foe, the Gaucho then hurls the lasso over him, and 
galloping away, he drags him along the ground, 
while the hounds rush upon him and tear him. 

The mountains now seemed to be really over our 
heads, and we expected that we should have imme- 
diately to climb them, but for many hours we went 
over a plain as dry and barren as the country 
already described on the other side of Uspallata, 
and which wound its course among the mountains. 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 149 

At last we crossed a rapid torrent of water, and 
then immediately afterwards came to another, which 
takes its rise at the summit of the Andes, and 
whose course and comparatively gradual descent 
directs the passage ; and it is on this spot that the 
traveller m.ay proudly feel that he is at last buried 
among the mountains of the Andes. The surface 
of the rocks which surrounded us afforded no pas- 
ture, and the gnarled wood and the stunted growth 
of the trees announced the severity of the climate in 
winter ; yet the forms of the mountains, and the 
wild groups in which they stood towering one above 
another can only be viewed with astonishment and 
admiration. 

Although the sun was retiring, and the mules 
very tired, we wished to have gone on half an hour 
longer, but the peon assured us we should not find 
so good a place, and, pointing to some withered 
herbage, and some large loose stones, he earnestly 
advised me to stop, saying, '' Hai aquipasto buena 
para las mulas, y para su merced buen alojamiento, 
hai agua, aqui hai todo"" (here is pasture for the 
mules, and for your excellency good lodging, wa- 
ter, and everything.) We therefore dismounted 



150 Passage across- 

near a spring, and having collected wood, and the 
miners having cooked our supper, we lay down on 
the ground to sleep. The air was cool and refresh- 
ing, and the scene really magnificent. 

As 1 lay on the ground upon my back, the ob- 
jects around me gradually became obscure, while 
the sun, which had long ago set to us, still gilded 
the summits of the highest mountains, and gave 
a sparkling brightness to the snow which faded 
with the light of day. The scene underwent a 
thousand beautiful changes ; but when it was all 
lost in utter darkness, save the bold outline which 
rested against the sky, it appeared more beautiful 
than ever. 

The peon, who was always very active, was up 
long before day-break, and we were awakened by 
the bell-mule and the others which were now col- 
lected. We got up in the dark, and as our party 
-were preparing to start, the group, though in- 
distinctly seen by the blaze of the fire, was a very 
odd one. The three miners were eating their 
breakfasts seated on loose stones round a large frag- 
ment of rock, which served as a table. Their 
elbows were squared, and they were eagerly bend- 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 151 

ing over the food before them. The peons, with 
their dark brown faces, and different coloured caps, 
handkerchiefs, and ponchos, were loading the 
'^ carga" mules. Some of the party were putting 
on their spurs ; others were arranging their toilette. 
The light was now faintly dawning on the tops of 
the highest mountains, and the snow was just dis- 
covered lying in large patches and ridges. The 
bottoms of the ravines were in dark shade, and 
white windy clouds were flying across the deep blue 
sky — for some moments all was silent : however, as 
soon as the mules were ready we mounted, and we 
were oif before we could distinctly see ; but the 
mules picked their way, and continually ascending 
by a path covered with great stones, and imprac- 
ticable to any animal except a mule, we continued 
to follow the course of the great stream, which was 
a torrent, roaring and raging, and altogether im- 
passable. 

The sufferings of the poor mules now attracted 
our attention; they had travelled from Mendoza 
with but little rest, and little food; still they 
required no driving, but were evidently making 
every possible exertion to keep up with the mule 



15^ PASSAGE ACROSS 

which carried the bell. Occasionally the " carga" 
would require adjusting, and the peon, throwing his 
poncho over the creature's eyes, would alter it, 
while the rest continued their course, but the poncho 
was no sooner removed than the mule, trotting and 
braying, joined the troop, never stopping till he 
came to the bell. 

On the road, the number of dead mules, which 
indeed strew the path from Mendoza to Santiago, 
seemed to increase, and it was painful to see the 
living ones winding their path among the bones 
and carcasses of those who had died of fatigue. By 
the peculiar effect of the chmate, most of these poor 
creatures were completely dry, and as they lay on 
the road with their hind legs extended, and their 
heads stretched towards their goal, it was evident 
from their attitudes that they had all died of the 
same complaint — the hill had killed them all. 

After passing one or two very rapid torrents, we 
came to a mountain which was one precipitous 
slope from the top to the torrent beneath. About 
half way up, we saw a troop of forty guanacos^ 
who were all gazing at us with great attention. 
They were on a path, or track, parallel to the 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 153 

water, and as the side of the mountain was covered 
with loose stones, we were afraid they would roll 
some of them down upon us. 

On the opposite side of the water, was one of the 
most singular geological formations which we had 
witnessed. At the head of a ravine was an enor- 
mous perpendicular mountain of porphyry, broken 
into battlements and turrets, which gave it ex- 
actly the appearance of an old castle, on a scale, 
however, altogether the subject of a romance. The 
broken front represented, in a most curious manner, 
old fashioned windows and gates, and one of the 
Cornish miners declared '' he could see an old 
woman coming across a draw-bridge." 

As I was looking up at the region of snow, and 
as my mule was scrambling along the steep side of 
the rock, the capataz overtook me, and asked me 
if I chose to come on, as he was going to look at 
the " Ladera de las Vaccas,'' to see if it was passable, 
before the mules came to it *. He accordingly 
trotted on, and in half an hour we arrived at the 

* When first, from, the melting of the snow, the Cordillera is 
" open," this passage is always impassable ; but it becomes 
broader towards the end of summer. 



154 PASSAGE ACROSS 

spot. It is the worst pass in tlie Cordillera. The 
mountain above appears almost perpendicular, and 
in one continued slope down to the rapid torrent 
which is raging underneath. The surface is covered 
with loose earth and stones which have been brought 
down by the water. The path goes across this 
slope, and is very bad for about seventy yards, 
being only a few inches broad ; but the point of 
danger is a spot where the water which comes down 
from the top of the mountain either washes the path 
away, or covers it over with loose stones. We rode 
over it, and it certainly was very narrow and bad. 
In some places the rock almost touches one's shoul- 
der, while the precipice is immediately under the op- 
posite foot, and high above the head are a number 
of large loose stones, which appear as if the slightest 
touch would send them rolling into the torrent 
beneath, wliich is foaming and rushing with great 
violence. However, the danger to the rider is only 
imaginary, for the mules are so careful, and seem 
so well aware of their situation, that there is no 
chance of their making a false step. As soon as 
we had crossed the pass, which is only seventy yards 
long, the capataz told me that it was a very bad 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 155 

place for baggage-mules, that four hundred had 
been lost there, and that we should also very pro- 
bably lose one; he said, that he would get down to 
the water at a place about a hundred yards off, and 
wait there with his lasso to catch any mule that 
might fall into the torrent, and he requested me to 
lead on his mule. However, I was resolved to see 
the tumble, if there was to be one, so the capataz 
took away my mule and his own, and while I stood 
on a projecting rock at the end of the pass, he 
scrambled down on foot, till he at last got to the 
level of the water. 

The drove of mules now came in sight, one fol- 
lowing another; a few were carrying no burdens, 
but the rest were either mounted or heavily laden, 
and as they wound along the crooked path, the 
difference of colour in the animals, the different 
colours and shapes of the baggage they were carry- 
ing, with the picturesque dress of the peons, who 
were vociferating the wild song by which they drive 
on the mules, and the sight of the dangerous path 
they had to cross, — ^formed altogether a very inter- 
esting scene. 

As soon as the leading mule came to the com- 



156 PASSAGE ACROSS 

mencement of the pass, he stopped, evidently un- 
willing to proceed, and of course all the rest stop- 
ped also. 

He was the finest mule we had, and on that ac- 
count had twice as much to carry as any of the 
others ; his load had never been relieved, and it con- 
sisted of four portmanteaus, two of which belonged 
to me, and which contained not only a very heavy 
bag of dollars, but also papers which were of such 
consequence that I could hardly have continued 
my journey without them. The peons now re- 
doubled their cries, and leaning over the sides of 
their mules, and picking up stones, they threw them 
at the leading mule, who now commenced his jour- 
ney over the path. With his nose to the ground, 
literally smelling his wa}^, he walked gently on, 
often changing the position of his feet, if he found 
the ground would not bear, until he came to the 
bad part of the pass, where he again stopped, and 
I then certainly began to look with great anxiety 
at my portmanteaus ; but the peons again threw 
stones at him, and he continued his path, and 
reached me in safety ; several others followed. At 
last a young mule, carrying a portmanteau, with 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 157 

two large sacks of provisions, and many other 
things, in passing the bad point, struck his load 
against the rock, which knocked his two hind legs 
over the precipice, and the loose stones immediately 
began to roll away from under them : however his 
fore-legs were still upon the narrow path ; he had 
no room to put his head there, but he placed his 
nose en the path on his left, and appeared to 
hold on by his mouth : his perilous fate was soon 
decided by a loose mule who came, and in walking 
along after him, knocked his comrade's nose off the 
path, destroyed his balance, and head over heels 
the poor creature instantly commenced a fall which 
was really quite terrific. With all his baggage 
firmly lashed to him, he rolled down the steep 
slope, until he came to the part which was perpen- 
dicular, and then he seemed to bound oW, and 
turning round in the air, fell into the deep torrent 
on his back, and upon his baggage, and instantly 
disappeared. I thought, of course, that he was 
killed ; but up he rose, looking wild and scared, 
and immediately endeavoured to stem the torrent 
which was foaming about him. It was a noble ef- 
fort ; and for a moment he seemed to succeed, but 



158 PASSAGE ACROSS 

the eddy suddenly caught the great load which was 
upon his back^ and turned him completely over ; 
down Avent his head with all the baggage, and as 
he was carried down the stream, all I saw were his 
hind quarters, and his long, thin, wet tail, lashing 
the water. As suddenly, however, up his head 
came again ; but he was now weak, and went down 
the stream, turned round and round by the eddy, 
until, passing the corner of the rock, I lost sight of 
him. I saw, however, the peons, with their lassos 
in their hands, run down the side of the torrent 
for some little distance ; but they soon stopped, and 
after looking towards the poor mule for some se- 
conds, their earnest attitude gradually relaxed, and 
■when they walked towards me^ I concluded that all 
was over. I walked up to the peons, and was just 
going to speak to them, when I saw at a distance a 
solitary mule walking towards us ! 

We instantly perceived that he was the Phaeton 
whose fall we had just witnessed, and in a few mo- 
ments he came up to us to join his comrades. 
He was of course dripping wet; his eye looked 
dull, and his whole countenance was dejected: how- 
ever^ none of his bones were broken, he was very 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 159 

little cut, and the bulletin of his health was alto- 
gether incredible. 

With that surprising anxiety which the mules all 
have to join the troop, or rather the leading mule 
which carries the bell, he continued his course, and 
actually walked over the pass without compulsion^ 
although certainly with great caution. 

We then continued our course for two hours, un- 
til we came to the '' Rio de las Vaccas," which is 
the most dangerous torrent of any of those which 
are to be crossed. We got through it with safety,^ 
but it was very deep,, and so excessively rapid, that 
large stones were rolled down it with the force 
of the water. The mules are accustomed to these 
torrents, but they are, notwithstanding, much 
frightened at them, and it is only long spurs that 
can force them into them . 

While we were crossing, the peons stood down 
the stream, with their lassos hurling round their 
heads, in order to catch anything which might have 
been carried away ; but as the boxes which I had 
seen washed from the mules were dashed to pieces 
before they had got twenty yards, the peon's lassa 
came a little too late; and besides this, as the 



160 PASSAGE ACROSS 

mule is their own property, I used sometimes to 
think that, in the hurry and indecision of the 
moment, they would probably catch him instead of 
the rider. 

When a large party cross this river, and when it 
is deep, it is really amusing, after one has got across 
it, to observe the sudden change of countenance of 
one's friends as they ride through it; sometimes 
perched up on the top of a fragment of rock barely 
covered, and expecting the next step to be their 
last; and sometimes scrambling out of a hole, with 
uplifted eye-brows, open mouth, and an earnest 
expression of uneasiness and apprehension — and 
these are really situations into which the traveller 
in the Andes is often thrown, though they discon- 
cert the gravity and solemnity of his ' ' Personal 
Narrative." 

After passing the Rio de las Vaccas, the ravines 
appear to grow narrower and steeper, and the tops 
of the mountains, which are those of the highest 
range, are rugged, with sharp edges and pinnacles. 

We here came to a quantity of snow and rub- 
bish, which had been washed down, and which we 
had great difficulty to pass, for it occasionally broke 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 161 

under the weight of the mules, who recovered 
themselves in a surprising manner, and as if accus- 
tomed to it! 

We now passed one of ih? brick huts, which, at 
every two or three leagues, have been built to protect 
the traveller from the dreadful storms which here 
assail him, and after continuing our course till the 
sun was low, we stopped at the second of these huts. 

We saw a party of loose mules at some distance 
standing among the stones ; and leaving my mule at 
the hut, I walked to them, and found two or three 
*' arrieros" on the ground asleep. 

I leaned over one fat fellow, and asked him to give 
me something to eat, for we had lost all our provi- 
sions at the Ladera de las Vaccas. As he awoke, 
he seemed at first alarmed at seeing a stranger well 
armed so near him ; however, we soon came to an 
understanding, and in a few seconds he was putting 
some money into a long purse, while I was walking 
towards the hut, with my arms filled with hard sea 
biscuits, some dried beef (charque) with one hand 
full of salt, and in the other red Chili pepper. 

With this our men prepared a good dinner, 
while I reconnoitred our situation. It was barren 

M 



163 PASSAGE ACROSS 

and desolate beyond description; and the mules, 
now unsaddled, were standing in the attitudes in 
which they had been unladen — their heads were nod- 
ding, or drooping, and they were putting up their 
backs and going to sleep, which was the only com- 
fort they could enjoy, for there was Hterally nothing 
for them to eat. 

The snow was all around us, and the features of 
the scene so large, that one could not but reflect on 
the situation of the many travellers, who, in these 
parts of the Andes, have been overtaken by the 
storm, and have perished. 

The capataz told me that these ** temporales'** 
are so violent that no animal can live in them ; that 
there is no warning, but that all of a sudden the 
snow is seen coming over the tops of the mountains 
in a hurricane of wind ; that hundreds of people 
have been lost in these storms ; that several had 
been starved in the house before us ; and that only 
two years ago, the winter, by suddenly setting in, as it 
generally does, had shut up the Cordillera, and had 
driven ten poor travellers to this hut. When the 
violence of the first storms had subsided, the cou- 
rier came to the spot, and found six of the ten 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 163 

lying dead in the hut, and by their sides the other 
four almost dead with hunger and cold, They had 
eaten their mules and their dog, and the bones of 
these animals were now before us. 

These houses are all erected upon one plan, and 
are extremely well adapted to their purpose. They 
are of brick and mortar, and are built solid, ten or 
twelve feet high, with a brick staircase outside. 
The room which is on the top of this foundation, 
in order to raise it above the snow, is about twelve 
feet square ; the walls are extremely thick, with 
two or three small loop-holes about six inches 
square ; the roof is arched, and the floor is of 
brick. 

A place so small, of so massive a construction, 
necessarily possesses the character of a dungeon ; 
and, as one stands at the door, the scene around adds 
a melancholy gloom to its appearance, and one can- 
not help thinking how sad it must have been, 
to have seen the snow, day after day, getting 
deeper and deeper, and the hope of escaping hourly 
diminishing, until it was evident that the path was 
impracticable and that the passage was closed! 
But without these reflections, the interior is melan- 
choly enough. 

M 2 



104! PASSAGE ACROSS 

The table, which had been fixed into the mor- 
tar, was torn away ; and to obtain a momentary 
warmth, the wretched people who had been con- 
fined here had, in despair, burnt the very door 
which was to protect them from the elements. 
They had then, at the risk of their lives, taken out 
the great wooden lintel, which was over the door, 
and had left the wall above it hanging merely from 
the adhesion of the mortar. This operation had 
evidently been done with no instrument but their 
knives, and it must have been a work of many 
days. 

The state of the walls was also a melancholy tes- 
timony of the despair and horror they had wit- 
nessed. In all the places which I have ever seen, 
which have been visited by travellers, I have al- 
ways been able to read the names and histories of 
some of those who have gone before me ; for when 
a man has nothing to lament, but that his horses 
have not arrived, or in fact that he has nothing to 
do, the wall appears to be a friend to whom many 
intrust their names, their birth-places, the place 
they propose to visit, and sometimes even the fond 
secrets of their hearts ; but I particularly observed 
that, in these huts on the Andes, not a name was to 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 165 

be seen, or a word upon the walls. Those who 
had died in them were too intent upon their own 
sufferings; the horror of their situation was un- 
speakable, and thus these walls remain the silent 
monuments of past misery. 

As the air was very cold, and the wind very 
high, we slept in this hut, -and before day-break 
we were once again upon our poor jaded mules, in 
order to cross the Curabre, while the surface of the 
snow was hard from the night's frost. After climb- 
ing a little but very steep hill, we came upon a small 
flat landing-place, which was the most dreary look- 
ing spot I think I ever saw. I asked the peon 
what the wooden cross before us meant? After 
looking over each of his shoulders, he told me that 
the spot for many years was haunted by the ghost 
of a mulish-looking sort of man who used to terrify 
all the arrieros and peons who passed, and that 
they, therefore, had been absolutely obliged to get 
a priest to put up the cross before us. " And has 
that driven the ghost away?" said I, laughing. 
" Si," said the peon, with a look of confidence and 
courage which had rather deserted his face while he 
was describing the shape of the spectre; and he 



W6 PASSAGE ACROSS 

then assured me with great earnestness, " that now 
he was never seen, and that I need not be afraid." 

The torrent which we had so long followed, now 
turned up the ravine to the right. We had pur- 
sued it from the east towards the west, but our 
path was now obstructed by the Cumbre, or upper 
ridge of the Cordillera, which no artifice can avoid, 
and which is a mountain covered with loose, de- 
composed rock, at an angle of very nearly forty-five 
degrees. At the foot is another of the huts, without 
door, table, or lintel, and in which many people 
have died. 

After resting my mule for a short time, and then 
girthing my saddle as ti^t as possible, during 
which operation he was always trying to bite me, I 
whispered a little comfort into his long ear ; I 
mounted, and then squaring my shoulders and 
giving a kick or two with my spurs, I commenced 
the climb, followed by the party of riders and 
carga mules. 

The path ascended in zig-zags from the bottom 
to the top, and the whole time I was obliged to 
hold on by the thin mane of the mule. The turn- 
ings were so short, that the animal was almost 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 16*7 

falling backwards ; however^ on he went, with a 
determination and patience that was quite astonish- 
ing. At times he stopped, but the path was so 
steep, and the decomposed rock so loose, that of 
his own accord iu a few seconds he continued. It 
was very picturesque and interesting to see the 
whole party beneath, threading their way in dif- 
ferent paths above each other ; some going towards 
the north, and others towards the south — to see 
the riders leaning forwards, every animal straining 
to his utmost, and to hear the peons cheering on 
their mules by a song which was both wild and me- 
lodious. 

After climbing in this singular manner for about 
an hour, I reached the summit, and it was really a 
moment of great triumph and satisfaction. Hither- 
to I had always been looking upwards, but now 
the difficulties were all overcome, and I was able to 
look down upon the mountains. Their tops were 
covered with snow ; and as the eye wandered oyer 
the different pinnacles, and up the white trackless 
ravines, one could not but confess that the scene, 
cheerless and inhospitable as it was, was never- 
theless a picture both magnificent and sublime. 



168 PASSAGE ACROSS 

Proceeding among some broken ground along 
the summit, I saw a very large wooden cross, which 
I rode up to. It was supported by a heap of stones 
piled round the bottom of it, but it did not stand 
perpendicular. It was roughly hewn, morticed 
together, and fixed by a large spike nail, which had 
rusted the wood, and being loosely clinched, the 
cross creaked with the wind. There was a rough 
inscription, cut out with a knife, along the bar of 
the cross ; but it was so much above my head, and 
so bleached by the weather, that I could not read 
it. In the wild desolate situation in which it stood, 
it certainly looked very appropriate and interesting, 
and I stood at the foot of it leaning over my mule 
until the party came up ; and then the peon told 
me that it was placed there by two arrieros to 
commemorate the murder of their friend. Thus 
reminded that we had not yet risen above the bad 
passions of man, it was painful to see the emblem 
of his hopes standing as the monument of his 
guilt ! 

We now found it extremely cold ; the snow was 
very deep, and the mules' path a most extraordinary 
one A deep narrow passage had been cut by the 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 169 

constant travelling of these animals, but the wall of 
snow on each side obliged the rider to put his feet 
on the mule's ears; besides this, as they always 
tread on the same spot, every step was into a hole 
which was often above their knees. On the snow 
there was a great deal of blood from mules v/hich 
had gone before, and it was only astonishing that 
they could proceed at all. 

. *' What a magnificent view!" said I to one of 
my companions, whose honest heart and thoughts 
were always faithful to old England. " What 
thing can be more beautiful?" I added. After 
smiling for some seconds, he replied, '• Them things, 
sir, that do wear caps and aprons.'" 

After descending about a mile with great trouble 
and difficulty, we came to another of the huts, which 
was in the same state as all the rest, but surrounded 
by about twelve feet of snow ; for on the Chili side 
of the Andes there is alwaj^s much more snow than 
on the other. After passing this house we resolved 
to quit the path, which was getting more bloody 
and more difficult, and we attempted to take a 
nearer cut by riding over the snow, which was 
everywhere very deep. It bore us very well for 



ITO PASSAGE ACROSS 

some time ; but as we got lower down, and as the 
heat of the day increased, our mules began to sink 
into it : however, they managed to regain the path, 
except the poor brown mule who was carrying the 
four heavy portmanteaus. He had hitherto sur- 
mounted every difficulty, and with a healthy eye 
and a patient countenance had always led the way; 
but now his treacherous path was breaking under 
him, and after floundering on in a most extraordi- 
nary manner, literally raising himself by his nose, 
he could proceed no farther, and the portmanteaus 
at his side all rested on the snow. Before this the 
capataz and peon had only cheered him by their 
voices, but they now went to his assistance. They 
Hfted up his two fore-legs out of the holes which 
they had made, and they put them on the surface 
of the snow. They then went on each side, and 
with one hand on his tail and the other under his 
belly, the poor creature rose. The two men then 
instantly jumped behind the mule, and with their 
hands over their heads they both held the mule's 
tail, pushing it upwards with all their force. The 
weight of the baggage being thus partly supported, 
the mule was able to proceed, and it was really 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 171 

curious to see the gravity and caution with which 
the party regained the road. 

During this singular operation, one of the party 
was for a long time endeavouring to catch his mule, 
who had escaped, and who managed just to keep 
out of his reach. When his master ran he ran : 
he followed his example when he walked, and at 
last, when my companion threw himself down on 
the snow quite exhausted, the cunning creature 
stood still and looked at him. 

As I found that my mule still went very well, I 
cut across the snow, and saved more than a mile, 
though I had some places to descend which no 
animal but a mule could have accomplished. The 
melting of the snow had in some places undermined 
it, and as I travelled over the surface I could hear 
a torrent rushing under the feet of the mule. Seve- 
ral times I got off to walk, but was obhged to 
remount, as these animals will not be led by the 
bridle. My mule was getting tired, his back was 
rather sore, and so were his feet, when I came to a 
stream of water about a foot broad, but deep, and 
which was running under the snow we were cross- 
ing. The snow had fallen into this stream in two 



17^ PASSAGE ACROSS 

or three places, both above and below me, and I 
was quite sure it would not bear ; so, in order that 
the mule should tumble by himself, I rode to the 
very edge, and then dismounting, put the bridle 
over his neck, and crossing the little stream, I 
endeavoured to persuade him to follow me, but he 
would not think of it ; it was but one step, yet he 
would not make it. - 

I then resolved to back him over it, and accord- 
ingly taking hold of the Mameluke bit which v/as 
in his mouth, I tried to turn him round. He 
would open his mouth, and allow his head to come 
round to his shoulder, but he knew what I wanted, 
and nothing could persuade him to move his legs. 

I could bear it no longer, so without a witness 
but the wild mountains about me, I beat him on 
his nose ; however it was no'use, he would not move, 
and he looked so placid that I could not long be 
angry with him, and therefore I gave the point up 
and mounted him. The moment I was on his 
back, he walked on ; as I expected, the snow broke 
in, and down he fell upon his nose ; however, he 
floundered through it, and then continued as pa- 
tient as if nothing had happened, sometimes prick- 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. ' 173 

ing up his ears and looking at his path, as if some 
great curiosity, or some great danger, was before 
him, and then stopping to bray after his compa- 
nions, during which nothing would induce him to 
proceed. 

In about an hour we got out of the snow, and 
then continually descending, the country soon be- 
gan to assume a different appearance ; and when we 
afterwards came to the first trees, we fancied that 
we were beholding a most beautiful country, and 
our whole party were making repeated observations 
on the particular charms of the scenery, and were 
pointing out spots which they agreed would be the 
most delightful situations for villages and cottages. 

In returning from several expeditions which we 
had before made to mountains, to inspect mines, I 
had always observed how very beautiful the plains 
looked after a short absence from vegetation, and I 
endeavoured to keep the observation in mind in 
viewing the scenes before me. Yet, upon the most 
deliberate reflection, I was of opinion that the cli- 
mate was lovely, and that although the ground was 
rocky, the trees had a verdure and a luxuriance 
that I could not sufficiently admire ; but when we 



174 PASSAGE ACROSS 

returned over these same spots, after living in 
Chili, we all acknowledged the erroneous opinions 
we had formed, and were surprised to find the cli- 
mate severe, the country bleak, and vegetation 
stunted by the continual frosts and violent winds. 

I was now joined by two of my party, and we 
proceeded along a stream whose course guided us 
as on the other side. The torrent, however, was 
much more rapid, and it was very pleasing to see 
it rushing in a contrary direction to that which we 
had so long followed. We were riding close to a 
very high perpendicular mountain which was on 
our right, and were all looking up it, and making 
remarks upon its singular formation, when we 
heard a sound like the sudden explosion of a mine, 
and a large piece of the rock was instantly seen 
falling. The sound was exactly like that described, 
but I should think it must have proceeded from the 
rock having struck against some part of the cliff; 
however one of the party exclaimed " Oh ! it is all 
coming r and off he darted. 

The other and I stood still, and we were much 
amused with the appearance of the fugitive, who 
bending over his mule, as if the mountain had al- 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 175 

ready been on his shoulders, was kicking and spur- 
ring and beating his mule, and in this attitude ac- 
tually rode out of our sight, without once turning 
to look behind him. 

When we came up to him, " What, did you not 
see," said he, " the whole face of the mountain 
moving, and smoke piping out of all the crevices ?" 
He added he had heard that Chili was full of vol- 
canoes, that he considered the whole mountain was 
coming upon him, and that therefore he certainly 
did ride for his very life. 

As our mules were very tired with the fatigue 
they had undergone in climbing the Cumbre, we 
stopped earlier than usual, at an uninhabited house 
called La Guardia, where there was some food for 
the mules, but as the house was full of fleas, most 
of us slept on the ground outside. A little after 
midnight, as soon as the moon was up, we again 
mounted our mules, but as the capataz was very 
slow in loading the cargas, I rode on with one of 
the party. 

We came to several torrents and laderas, and the 
former in the dark were passed very unwillingly,, 
for, as my companion very justly said, '* If one is to 



176 PASSAGE ACROSS 

be carried awaj, one would like to see where one is 
going." As soon as the sun was up, we found it 
oppressively hot ; and as our mules were getting 
lame, we could only trot very gently. The coun- 
try down which we descended was similar to that 
which has already been described, and we continued 
our course till we came in sight of the town of 
La Villa Nueva de los Andes, whose name explains 
that it is a new town built in the Andes. 

It is situated on ground comparatively flat, but 
is surrounded by mountains, or rather, hills ; for the 
features of the country are here on a smaller scale. 

The town, like all towns in Chili, is built on the 
usual plan. The streets are broad, and at right 
angles, and they are consequently parallel or per- 
pendicular to each other. In the centre of the 
town there is a Plaza or great square, on one side 
of which is a rude sort of abode called the Go- 
vernor's house, where a number of dirty-looking 
soldiers without shoes, and with little on them but 
a poncho, are seen sitting under a corredor, or 
lying about asleep. 

I rode up to the guard, and asked a man who 
had an old sword in his hand, where La Fonda 



THE GREAT CORDILLEllA. ITT 

(the inn) was. He settled the point very quickly 
by saying, " Fonda no hai ;"*' however, I learnt that 
there was a house where travellers were occasionally 
received, and he directed me to it. When I got 
there, I found it locked up. I knocked at the door 
for some time in vain ; at last, a woman from the 
opposite side of the street told me that the people 
were gone away, and that the house was empty. 

It was summer, and the sun, which in Chili is 
always burning, was to us who had come down 
from the snow so exceedingly overpowering, that I 
found it necessary to get into the shade somewhere 
or other, so I told my story to the women, and 
asked them where we could get shelter, a dinner, 
or even anything to drink. They said that the 
woman at the corner pulperia (shop) sold lemonade; 
but, as I was setting off, I saw at a little distance 
a quantity of- rich clover-grass which had just been 
cut, so I filled my arms with it, and walked to- 
wards my mule. The grass was delightfully green, 
and the smell quite refreshing. The mule pricked 
up his long ears as he saw me coming ; I threw it 
down before him, and took the iron mameluke-bit 
out of his mouth. After eatino^ some mouthfuls of 



178 PASSAGE ACROSS 

it, he began to look about him, and I have seldom 
felt more provoked, than I was to see him Avaik 
away from it, and in preference begin to eat some 
hot, dry, dirty straw, which was lying on a dung- 
heap. 

We then went to the shop, and I asked the old 
woman what in the world we were to do ? — that we 
had come out of the Andes, w^re going next morn- 
ing to Santiago, or, as they term it, to Chili, and 
that we wanted food and lodging for the night. 
She told me that the only thing to be done, was to 
hire a room, and then get a person to cook what- 
ever we wanted. 

This sounded hopeless, but I soon found that we 
had no alternative ; so leaving my companion to 
drink a glass of lemonade, and to take a siesta in 
the old woman's bed, I went out on foot, following 
a little boy without shoes, and was at last led to 
the door of one of the largest houses in the place. 
The boy went inside, and in a short time he re- 
turned with a large key in his hand, followed by a 
well-drest, elderly lady, who asked me to walk in. 
I declined, and went with the boy some distance 
down the street ; at last he stopped at a door, un- 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 179 

locked it, and we entered a room full of feathers 
and fleas, and without any glass in the window. 
*' Aqui sta," said the boy, and he added that I 
was to pay two reals (ten pence) a day. He said 
I could get dinner cooked at the next liouse. I 
accordingly Avent there, and found a woman who 
had the remains of very great beauty, and her 
daughter, of about eighteen years of age, who 
very much resembled her. 

They both received me with the greatest kind- 
ness, and they insisted on my lying down on the 
bed. The old lady asked me what I would have 
for dinner for my party, and I told her all we 
wanted was the very best dinner she could give us, 
and that I begged to leave it to her good taste and 
judgment. 

Away she went to get all the '' materiel,^' while 
her daughter attended to me. She brought me a 
plate of the most delicious cool figs I ever tasted, 
and then a glass of iced lemonade, and all the time 
I was eating the figs she was sitting by the bed- 
side pitying me. 

In about two or three hours the party arrived, 
mules and men quite fagged and exhausted, and I 

N 2 



180 PASSAGE ACROSS 

spoke to the capataz about starting early in the 
morning. He lived about two leagues from the 
town, and by agreement was to provide us with 
fresh mules for the baggage, and horses for our- 
selves; but I could see he was not inclined to be 
off early, so I insisted on -his bringing the mules 
and horses that evening. He said that they would 
have nothing to eat, so I gave him two dollars to 
buy grass, and off he went, promising that he 
would be back in the evening. 

I had just time to bathe, when our dinner was 
ready; and as the young woman brought us dish 
after dish, the party observed, first, that she was 
the most interesting-looking girl they had ever seen, 
and secondly, that they had never eaten a dinner 
so well drest; but the same delirium which, on 
coming from the snow of the Andes, had made 
them " babble o' green fields,'" caused them to err 
in their judgments on other parts of creation; and 
really, when w^e returned from the plain to Villa 
Nueva, our dinner was badly cooked, and the poor 
young woman was only said to be " rather pretty!" 

The evening arrived, but not the capataz or 
his mules, and we did not know where to send for 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 181 

nim ; but an hour before day-break the peon came 
to say that the capataz had turned him away; 
that he had spent the two dollars I had given 
him in drinking with his wife ; that he had not 
given us the proper quantity of spare mules at 
Mendoza^ and he begged us to take him before 
the governor. 

The sun was already up, when the capataz 
arrived. He had brought several of the poor 
tired mules, fresh mules for the riders, and a 
broken-kneed horse for me; but he was himself 
mounted on a fine prancing horse. I took his 
horse from him, put my saddle upon it, and de- 
siring my party to take him before the governor, 
galloped off towards Santiago. 

The road soon became very bad, as the path 
ascends a cuesta, which it is necessary to climb 
and to descend by zig-zags ; however, as soon as 
I got on level ground by myself 1 galloped along, 
and it was quite dehghtful to be thus reminded 
of the pace of the Pampas, after having crawled 
along so many days on the back of a mule, 

I soon got to the house at which we had 
agreed to sleep, and which is about half way 



182 PASSAGE ACROSS 

between Villa Nueva and Santiago. It is a pul- 
peria (shop), and was filled with peons drinking; 
however, they had got bread and wine, and I sent 
a man off to get a sheep ; there was also a nice 
stream of water for bathing. In the course of 
three or four hours, several of the party arrived 
on horses, and they were in high spirits at the 
triumph they had gained over the capataz. They 
said that the governor had heard their cause, and 
had then ordered them to give the capataz a 
hundred lashes, but that as they did not exactly 
know how or where they were to inflict this pu- 
nishment, they begged him to have the goodness 
to change it ; upon which the governor said, that 
if I preferred it, I might pay him only six dollars 
for each of his mules, instead of eight, which was 
the sum agreed for. The latter award was cer- 
tainly the best of the two ; and, accordingly, when 
the capataz arrived, I assured him that if he had 
behaved w^ell I should have given him, in addition 
to his agreement, the usual " gratificacion ;'' but, 
for his cruelty to his mules, I should most cer- 
tainly inflict upon him one of the punishments to 
which the governor had sentenced him; and I left 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 183 

him for some time, uncertain which of the two he 
was to receive. 

We all slept in the yard of the pulperia, on the 
ground, and long before day -break we started. 
I galloped on by myself, and at first took the 
wrong path; but as soon as I found by my compass 
that it was leading me away from Santiago, I 
changed my course, and at last came to a fire, 
round which a family were sleeping. After the 
usual barking of the dogs was silenced, I was 
directed where to go, and I crossed a number 
of small hills, until I came to the large uncul- 
tivated plain of Santiago. I was more than two 
hours galloping across this plain, which, from 
want of irrigation, produces no sort of herbage, 
but only scattered shrubs. 

When I got within two leagues of the city, I 
came to water, and then the road was occasionally 
a pontana (swamp), through which, not knowing 
the passes, I had great difficulty to wade. An 
English horse would certainly have stuck in it, 
but those of the country, being accustomed to it, 
walk through very slowly, extricating their legs 
with the greatest caution. 



184 PASSAGE ACROSS 

I was now met by, and I overtook, men, women, 
boys, priests, &c. on horseback, either coming from 
or going into town, all at a canter, and in very 
singular dresses. Many of the horses were carry- 
ing double, sometimes two giggling girls, some- 
times a boy with his grandmother behind him; 
sometimes three children were cantering along 
upon one horse, and sometimes two elderly ladies ; 
then a solitary priest with a broad-brimmed white 
hat and white serge petticoats tucked up all about 
him, his rosary dangling on his mule's neck, and 
his pale fat cheeks shaking from the trot. Milk, 
and strawberries, and water-melons, were all at 
a canter, and several people were carrying fish 
into the town tied to their stirrups. Their pace, 
however, was altogether inferior to that of the 
Pampas, and the canter, instead of the gallop, 
gave the scene a great appearance of indolence. 

The spurs of the peons were bad, and their 
stirrups the most heavy, awkward things imaginable. 
They were cut out of solid wood, and were alto- 
gether different from the neat little triangle which 
just holds the great toe of the Gaucho of the 
Pampas. 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 185 

On crossing the bridge, which is at the entrance 
of the town, the market was underneath me, on 
some low ground on the left. A number of people 
were selling fruit, vegetables, fish, &c., which 
were lying on the ground, and as the sun was now 
oppressively hot, each parcel was shaded by a 
small canvass blind, which was fixed perpendicu- 
larly into the ground. 

As I rode along the streets I thought they looked 
very mean and dirty. Most of the houses had been 
cracked by earthquakes ; the spires, crosses, and 
weathercocks, upon the tops of the churches and 
convents were tottering, and out of the perpendi- 
cular ; and the very names of the streets, and the 
stories '^ Aqui se vende, kc.,''' which are over all 
the shops, were written as crooked and irregular as 
if they had been inscribed during an earthquake. 
They were generally begun with large letters, but 
the man had apparently got so eager about the 
subject, that he was often obliged to conclude in 
characters so small, that one could hardly read 
them, and in some places the author had 
thoughtlessly arrived at the end of his board before 
he had come to the end of his story. 



186 PASSAGE ACROSS 

The great Plaza (square) has a fountain in the 
middle^ and the Director s palace on one side. This 
building looks dirty and insufficient ; it is of a 
fantastic style of architecture, and its outline is 
singular rather than elegant : part of it is used as 
a guard-room. The soldiers were badly dressed ; 
some were blacks, wearing gold ear-rings, some were 
brown, and some of a mongrel breed. 

It was just eight o'clock as I rode across this 
square. The bell of one of the churches tolled, 
and every individual, whether on horseback or on 
foot, stopped ; the men all pulled oj6P their hats, the 
women knelt down, and several people called to me 
to stop. The guard at the palace presented arms, 
and then the soldiers crossed themselves ; in about 
ten seconds we all proceeded on our respective 
ways. This ceremony is always repeated three 
times a day, at eight in the morning, at noon, and 
at eight in the evening. I inquired my way to 
the English hotel, and found there a hard-working, 
industrious Englishwoman, who was the landlady. 
She told me she had not " an inch^' of room in her 
whole house, which was filled with what she termed 
'' mining gentlemen." I asked her where I could 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 187 

go; she said she could not tell, but she offered to 
send one of her servants with me to a <« North 
American ladj," who sometimes took in strangers. 
I went accordingly, and was introduced into a 
room which had a mat, a few highly-varnished, 
tawdry, wooden chairs, and a huge overgrown 
piano-forte. One side of the room was glazed like 
a green-house, and looked into another small room. 
Two long, thin, vulgar-looking girls, who talked 
through their noses, now came in, and told me a 
long story about '^ mama," the object of which 
was, that mama was coming, and accordingly in 
she came. They were all at once asking me to be 
seated, and were inquiring into my history, when I 
informed the lady, that I had called to inquire 
whether she had accommodation in her house for 
strangers. " Oh yes, she had a very nice room 
which she could let to me ; there was no bed in 
it, but she could lend me chairs." I asked to see 
it ; to my horror and astonishment, she led me to 
the glazed side of her room, and opening the glass 
door, she told me, that was the room. I had a 
great deal of very troublesome business on my 
mind, and all I required for the very few days I 



188 PASSAGE ACROSS 

was to be at Santiago, was a little quietness and 
solitude. '' Good heavens !" said I to myself, as I 
looked out of this wretched lanthorn, " how could 
I wash or make myself at all comfortable, either in 
body or mind, in such a place as this? Those 
girls, and that terrible piano-forte, would be the 
death of me ! I am afraid, madam," addressing 
myself to the old lady, " this will not exactly do," 
and then out of the room, and out of the house, I 
walked. 

I went back to the Englishwoman, who was 
very civil. The sun was burning me to pieces, 
I was quite exhausted, and I begged her to let me 
lay down anywhere in the shade, for that I had 
ridden almost all night, and was tired. She re- 
plied that she had positively no place. I told her 
I had been sleeping on the ground for many 
months, and that she surely had some little corner 
in which I might go to sleep. She said, '' Nothing 
but the carpenter's shop." "Oh!" I said, with de- 
light, "that will do famously;" so she led me to the 
place, and in a few seconds I was fast asleep 
among the shavings. 

In three or four hours my party arrived, and 



THE GHEAT CORDILLEKA. 189 

the landlady had by this time hired two empty rooms 
for them, and afterwards one small one for me. She 
got me a table, w4th two chairs, and she told us we 
could breakfast anddine with all her guests. This 
was not a very agreeable arrangement, but fur- 
nished lodgings are not to be had at Santiago, 
and I had therefore no alternative that than of 
hiring an empty house, and then getting furniture 
and servants ; but to clean the former, and break 
in the latter, were occupations which I had no wish 
to undertake, particularly as I was going so shortly 
to inspect mines in different directions. 

I had several letters, which at Buenos Aires I 
had been requested to take to Santiago, and 
these I at once delivered to a person to whom I 
was addressed. I had a drawing very carefully 
rolled up and sealed, which I had been told at 
Buenos Aires was the picture of a child in Eng- 
land, for his mother at Santiago. The lady hap- 
pened to live close to the house to which I had 
taken my letters ; and as I thought the picture of 
her child would be very acceptable, I called and 
delivered it to her myself. She was in one of the 
best houses in the town, and was surrounded by a 



190 PASSAGE ACROSS 

very nice family of all ages. While I was talking 
to her she opened and unrolled the paper, and after 
glancing at it for a moment, she passed it to her 
family, who looked at it one after another with an 
apathy which quite provoked me. It was then 
handed to me, and I no sooner saw what it was^ 
than I bowed to the family, and left in the hands 
of the lad J, not a picture of her child, but a school- 
boy's large, coarse chalk-drawing of the head of 
John the Baptist ! 

During the short time I was at Santiago, I was 
constantly occupied in gaining information, without 
which I could not have commenced my inspection 
of the mines ; and as many unforeseen difficulties 
were impeding my progress, and occupying my at- 
tention, I had neither time nor inclination to enter 
into any sort of society, or to see any more of 
Santiago than what chanced to be going on in the 
streets. 

The town is full of priests — the people are con- 
sequently indolent and immoral ; and I certainly 
never saw more sad examples of the effects of 
bad education, or a state of society more de- 
plorable. The streets are crowded with a set of 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 191 

lazy, indolent, bloated monks and priests, with 
their heads shaved in different ways*, wearing 
enormous flat hats, and dressed, some in w^hite 
serge cowls and gowns, and others in black. The 
men all touch their hats to these di'ones, who are 
also to be seen in the houses, leaning over the backs 
of their chairs, and talking to women w^ho are evi- 
dently of the most abandoned class of society. 
The number of people of this description at San- 
tiago is quite extraordinary. The lower rooms of 
the most reputable houses are invariably let to 
them, and it is really shocking beyond description 
to see them sitting at their doors, with a candle in 



* I was one day in a hair-dresser's shop at Santiago, when a 
priest came in to have his head shaved, and I stopped to see 
the operation. The priest was a sleek fat man of about forty, 
with a remarkably short nose and a sallow complexion. The 
man lathered him with the greatest respect, and then shaved the 
lower part of his head about an inch above his ears all rounds 
and discovered bumps which a student of Gall and Spurzheim 
would have been shocked at. His head was as deadly white as 
young porkj and while the barber was turning the priest's head 
in different directions, I really thought it altogether the most 
uncivilized operation I had ever witnessed j and when it was 
finished, and the man stood up, he looked so very grotesque 
that I could scarcely refrain from laughing. 



192 PASSAGE ACROSS 

the back part of the room burning before sacred 
pictures and images. 

The power of the priests has diminished very 
much since the Revolution. They are not re- 
spected ; they have ahnost all families, and lead 
most disreputable lives. Still the hold they have 
upon society is quite surprising. The common 
people laugh at their immorality, yet they go to 
them for images and pictures, and they send their 
wives and daughters to confess to them. Three 
times a day the people in the streets take off their 
hats, or fall down on their knees. Every quarter 
of an hour during the night the watchman of each 
street sings as loud as he is able a prayer of ^^ Ave 
Maria purissima," and then chants the hour and 
a description of the night. 

During the day one constantly meets a calesh 
drawn by two mules, driven by a dirty boy in a 
poncho, and followed by a line of inhabitants with 
their hats off, each carrying a lighted candle in 
a lantern : every individual in the streets kneels, 
and those who have windows towards the streets 
(who are generally the females I have described) 
are obliged to appear with a lighted candle. In the 



THE GREAT CORDILLERA, 193 

inside of the carriage sits a priest, vvitli his hands 
uphfted and clasped. In this system of depravity 
the great sinner pardons the Httle one. Sins are put 
into one scale and money into the other, and intent 
upon the balance, both parties forget the beauty 
and simplicity of the religion which they nominally 
profess. 

The siesta at Santiago is as long as it is at 
Mendoza. The shops are shut at noon, and remain 
closed for four or five hours, during which time all 
business is at an end. 

The climate of Santiago is similar to that of all 
the parts of Chili which I visited. The day in 
summer is burning hot ; the nights delightfully 
cool. During the day, the sun, reflected from the 
mountains which surround the town on every side, 
and which, of course, obstruct the breeze, has a 
greater heat than is natural to the latitude. At 
night the cold air rolls down the snowy sides of the 
Andes, and fills the Chilian valleys with a cool 
atmosphere, which is unknown to the great plains 
on the other side of the Cordillera. The effect of 
this stream of cold air is very agreeable, and people, 
whose occupations screen them from the sun in the 

o 



194 PASSAGE ACROSS, &C. 

day, enjoy their evening's ramble ; and as the sky is 
very clear, the climate of Chili is often described as 
being extremely healthy. Yet the least learned, 
but perhaps the most satisfactory proof of the 
healthiness of a climate is not the brightness of the 
stars, or the colour of the moon, but the appearance 
of men's and women's faces ; and certainly the people 
of Chili in general, and of Santiago in particular, 
have not a healthy appearance. The English there, 
also, look very pale and exhausted, and although 
they keep each other in countenance, it appeared to 
me, that a strong dose of British wind, with snow 
and rain, and a few of what the Scotch call *' sour 
mornings," would do them a great deal of good. 



195 



Convent at Santiago. — Group of people on the 
outside whispering and speaking through the key- 
hole, the hinges and the cracks of the door — turn- 
about filled with old linen — door half opened by a 
janitress to take in two large models on wheels, the 
one of a brown cow, the other of a brown bull — - 
door of the chapel open — chapel divided into two 
parts by a double grating, one of iron, the other of 
wood ; the lattices about the size of those in a 
cottage window. At one end the altar glittering 
with silver, mummery, and candles ; at the other 
side of the grating the nuns assembled at vespers — 
some were sitting at the sides and back of the chapel 
— others kneeling in the middle, even close to the 
grating, and with their faces towards the altar.. 
They appeared to be almost all very old, fat women ^^ 
short and thick — complexions stained with garlic 
and oil, and countenances soured by long confine- 

o 2 



196 CONVENT AT SANTIAGO. 

ment. They were praying as if they were sick and 
tired of it, and as if they neither cared nor knew 
what they were saying. Four or five were playing 
on fiddles, which they held up to their necks like 
men — one was sawing an immense double bass, and 
another was blowing with a large hand-bellows into 
the lungs of a little organ, on which a sister-nun 
was playing. They all sang together, and I never 
heard sounds less melodious. Age had taken all 
softness from their voices, and had left nothing 
but a noise which was harsh, squeaking, and dis- 
cordant. The women were old and ugly, and the 
scene altogether was saddening. Their dresses 
consisted of white caps and large black gowns — 
their hair was concealed, and their features were so 
hard, that it was difiicult to say whether they were 
old men or old women i — the serge gown concealed 
their figures — figures which were intended as the 
ornaments of creation. When one fancied the 
lives they might have led — the assistance they might 
have afforded to society — the friendships they might 
have enjoyed, and the pleasing natural duties they 
might have performed, it was melancholy to see 
them lost to the world, and only occupied in scream- 



CONVENT AT SANTIAGO. 197 

ing in Latin through iron bars to candles and 
pictures. 

On my right there was a young monk, who 
remained on a bench close to the wall all the time I 
was there. He was confessino- a nun through some 
holes in a plate of tin, which was let into the 
convent wall which separated them ; and since the 
days of Pyramus and Thisbe, there can never have 
been a more regular flirtation. The monk was 
much more anxious to talk than to hear, and I 
could not help smiling when I saw him with great 
eagerness of countenance putting sometimes his 
mouth, and sometimes his ear, to the tin plate. 
However, when I turned towards the group of old 
nuns who were before me, I felt that it mattered 
but little to society, whether they were confessing 
their old sins, or planning new ones ; but it was 
distressing to think that the young and the innocent, 
who were rising in the world, were still the victims 
of such a mistaken custom — for surely nothing can 
tend to blunt the good feelings of the young more 
than the reflection that even their thoughts of yes- 
terday are already recorded by a man ; and if an 
evil genius wished to prepare a man who should be 



198 CONVENT AT SANTIAGa, 

peculiarly unfitted for so delicate a confidence, what 
could he do better than doom him to idleness and 
celibacy, deny him children of his own, and feed 
him upon oil and garlic ? 



199 



JOURNEY TO THE GOLD MINE OF 
EL BRONCE DE PETORCA. 

At about two o'clock in the morning we got up, 
and before we had eaten our breakfasts, the mules 
arrived with two peons. There were two mules for 
each person, and they were all driven loose into the 
yard. '' Come now ! Vamos !" said one of the Cor- 
nish miners, who was always cheerful and ready to 
start, upon which the party all got their bridles and 
went down into the yard. The capataz took my 
bridle and promised to give me a good beast, and I 
stood for a few moments looking down upon the 
group from the large corredor or balcony. Each 
man was choosing his own mule ; and as, from sad 
experience, he had learnt the difference between 
riding a good mule and a bad one, it was a point 
of some consequence. It was amusing to see each 
individual trying to look an animal in the face, 
to guess his character by the light of the moon, 
while the cunning creature, aware of his intention, 
was constantly hiding his head among his comrades. 



200 JOURNEY TO THE GOLD MINE OF 

and turning his heels towards every person who 
approached him. As soon as the mules were sad- 
dled, which was always a troublesome and dan- 
gerous operation, we mounted, and rode out of the 
yard followed by the loose mules, who trotted after 
the madrina, or bell-mare, which was driven on by 
one of the peons. 

As we passed through the streets the watchmen 
w^ere singing the hour, with the usual hymn of 
" Ave Maria purissima ;^' and it was quite singular 
to hear their different ways of chanting it. 

Our road passed across the plain of Santiago, 
and although we cantered, it was nearly three hours 
before we got to the mountains, and then for the 
whole day we had either to climb up one side of a 
barren mountain, or to scramble down the other. 
These mountains, from want of rain, afford scarcely 
any pasture : the soil upon them is cracked in a 
most singular manner, and the fissures are so deep 
and frequent, that it is apparently dangerous to 
ride over them. 

After travelling until our mules were quite tired, 
we arrived, after the sun had set, at a small hamlet 
of mud huts. There had been a church, but the 



EL BRONCE DE PETORCA. 201 

great earthquake of 1822 had converted it into a 
heap of ruins. The scene in the village was a very 
gay one. It was Christmas^ and the usual festi- 
vities were going on. There were two or three 
rooms built of boughs, and filled with young women 
and Gauchos, who were dancing to the music of a 
guitar. On our arrival we had been led to the 
hut of a man who was the richest in the vil- 
lage; and as soon as we had taken our saddles 
into his house, we went out to join the dance. 
The sight of a few unexpected strangers added to 
the cheerfulness of the scene ; the guitar instantly 
sounded louder, and the people danced with greater 
vigour. Round the room were rough poles as 
benches, on which sat the ladies who had danced; 
their partners were seated on the ground at their 
feet, and their earnest attentions cannot exactly 
be described. We were received with great hos- 
pitality, and in two minutes I saw my party 
all happy, seated on the ground, and as com- 
pletely enfans de famille, as if they had been born 
there. 

After remaining with them a short time, I re- 
turned to the hut, I found the master very sulky; 



20^ JOURNEY TO THE GOLD MINE OF 

he had turned all our saddles out of his house, and 
for some little time he would not speak to me; 
however, I insisted that he should point with his 
finger where the saddles were, and accordingly I 
found them on the ground, outside a little hut^ in 
which was one of the miners cooking our supper: 
however, we had slept so long in the open air, 
that it was of little consequence. I must do this 
man the justice to say, that though he was na- 
turally a sulky fellow, he had intended to do right. 
He wished to have done the honours of his hut 
to strangers, and he accordingly gave the Cornish 
miner some eggs, but the man intending to pay 
for them, honestly told him there were not half 
enough, which the landlord considered as a breach 
of politeness. 

While I was sitting on a horse's head, writing by 
the blaze of the fire, I saw two girls dressing for 
the ball. They were standing near a stream of 
water, which was running at the back of the hut. 
After washing their faces, they put on their gowns, 
and then twisting up their hair in a very simple 
pretty way, they picked, by the light of the moon, 
some yellow fiowers which were growing near them. 



EL BRONCE DE PETORCA. SOS 

These they put fresh into their hair, and when 
this simple toilette was completed, they looked as 
interesting, and as nicely dressed, as if " the 
carriage was to have called for them at eleven 
o'clock ;" and in a few minutes, when I returned 
to the ball, I was happy to see them each with a 
partner. 

In the morning, before day, we started, and for 
many a league my companions were riding toge- 
ther, and discussing the merits of their partners. 
The country we rode over was mountainous, and 
it was very fatiguing both to mules and riders. 
I had just climbed up a very steep part of the 
mountain, and, with one of my party, w^as winding 
my mule through some stunted trees, when I sud- 
denly met a large-headed young man, of about 
eighteen years of age, riding his horse at a walk, 
and with tears running, one after another, down his 
face. I stopped, and asked him what was the mat- 
ter, but he made no reply. I then asked him how 
many leagues it was to Petorca, but he continued 

crying, and at last he said, " He had lost " 

" Who have you lost .?" said I, debating whether it 
was his mother or his mistress. The fellow burst 



S04 JOURNEY TO THE GOLD MINE OF 

into a flood of tears, and said, " Mis espuelas" (my 
spurs), and on he proceeded. One cannot say much 
for the lad's fortitude, yet the loss of spurs to a 
Gaucho is a very serious misfortune. They are in 
fact his only property — the wings upon which he 
flies for food or amusement. 

The sun was getting low, and the mules quite 
tired with the rocky barren path on which they had 
toiled, when we came to the top of a mountain, 
from which we suddenly looked down upon the val- 
ley of Aconcagua, which is a long narrow plain, irri- 
gated by a fine stream of water. The contrast was 
quite extraordinary ; — the colour of the trees and 
grass was black rather than green, and vegetation so 
rank and luxuriant, that the huts Hterally appeared 
smothered in the crops around them. This pic- 
ture is one which is constantly met with in Chili ; 
and as the produce of these plains, when irrigated, 
is greater than that of any of the world. Chili has 
often been called one of the richest countries. But 
although these productive spots deservedly attracted 
the attention of the Spaniards, who found that the 
necessaries of life were there so easily obtained, yet 
the country is generally so mountainous, and so 



EL BRONCE DE PETORCA. S05 

large a proportion of it is incapable of irrigation, 
that its population must hereafter be infinitely less 
than that of the Pampas, although at present it 
very much exceeds it. 

On getting into the small town of Aconcagua, 
the church of which is in ruins, and almost every 
house cracked by earthquakes, we found the same 
sort of festivities which we had joined the evening 
before, but they were less interesting, because they 
were more formal. The Plaza (square) was covered 
with sheds, in which were people dancing, and 
when we rode up to the fonda, or inn, we saw 
the yard filled with people, sitting in bowers made 
of branches of trees, with others dancing or 
drinking. 

We were eating our dinner at a small table in 
the yard, when a person came up and offered us a 
room at his house, and in the evening he came to 
take us to it. When he unlocked the door, which 
was on the ground-floor, we found the room filled 
with sacks of Indian corn, hides, rubbish of all 
sorts, and swarming with fleas ; however, we made 
room, and slept there, and in the morning, after 
thanking the man for his lodging, we breakfasted 



W6 JOURNEY TO THE GOLD MINE OF 

at the fonda^ where we might have slept much 
better. 

Early the next morning we started on our fresh 
horses and mules, leaving the tired ones in a po- 
trero, or field, and visited a silver-mine, which was 
within a league of the town. We then pursued 
our course over barren mountains, and at about 
twelve o'clock in the day we reached the village 
of Petorca, which consists of one long principal 
street, with other short ones at right angles. 
The church, like that at Aconcagua, was over- 
turned by the earthquake of 18S2, and the walls 
of the houses were cracked and rent from top 
to bottom. 

I had a letter of introduction to the principal 
person, who was extremely polite, and was very 
anxious that we should spend the evening with 
him ; however, I at last prevailed upon him to get 
us fresh mules, and about two o'clock, after we had 
nad some refreshment, we set off with him to visit 
some trapiches and mills which had existed before 
the earthquake. We found the roofs shaken from 
two of the huts, and the rest tottering. The two 
miUs were so completely annihilated, that it was 



EL BRONCE DE PETORCA. 207 

difficult to trace the foundation on which they had 
stood, and the water was diverted from its course. 

In the evening our landlord gave us a most ex- 
cellent supper, and the following morning, an hour 
before sunrise, we started to inspect the gold mines 
of El Bronce de Petorca, which were six miles from 
the village, and about a hundred and sixty from 
Santiago. 

I visited this mine accompanied by a very intelli- 
gent Chilian miner, who with several of his com- 
rades was in a mine on this lode a hundred fathoms 
deep, when the great earthquake of the 19th of 
November 1822, which almost destroyed Valparaiso, 
took place. He told me that several of his com- 
rades were killed, and that nothing could equal the 
horror of their situation. He said that the moun- 
tain shook so that he could scarcely ascend ; large 
pieces of the lode were falling down, and every 
instant they expected the walls of the lode would 
come together, and either crush them or shut them 
up in a prison from which no human power could 
liberate them. He added, that when he got to the 
mouth of the mine the scene was very little better: 
there was such a dust that he could not see his hand 



208 JOURNEY TO THE GOLD MINE OF 

before him ; large masses of rock were rolling down 
the side of the mountain on which he stood, and he 
heard them coming and rushing past him without 
being able to see how to avoid them, and he there- 
fore stood his ground, afraid to move. In almost 
all the mines which we visited in Chili we witnessed 
the awful effects of these earthquakes, and it was 
astonishing to observe how severely the mountains 
had been shaken. 

We got back to Petorca by ten o^clock, and as 
our host said he could give us fresh mules, I sent 
ours quietly on, and we agreed to start as soon as 
we had had a couple of hours' sleep. 

After taking leave of our kind host, and bowing 
to the ladies, who were all standing at their doors, I 
went to the mule which had been provided for me, 
and saw by the wrinkles in his nose that he had 
some mischief in his head : however, he stood per- 
fectly still, and allowed me to put my foot into the 
stirrup ; but as soon as I threw my leg over him he 
jumped sideways about a yard; my heel went on to 
the top of some baggage which was upon the back 
of another mule, and my long Gaucho's spur got 
entangled in it. The mule, seeing that his plot 



EL BRONCE DE PETORCA. S09 

had succeeded, began to kick, and with one leg up 
hi the air, it was quite impossible to keep my seat. 
I fell on my head, and was stunned by the fall : 
however, as soon as I recovered I remounted him, 
expecting that he would kick again — au contrairey 
he was perfectly satisfied with what he had done, 
and he proceeded as quietly as a lamb. 



210 



GOLD MINE OF CAREN. 

After inspecting the old holes which had been 
worked on the lode, and gazing with great interest 
at the Pacific, which was apparently hanging in the 
air beneath us, we descended the side of the rock, 
sometimes upon hands and knees, for about three 
hundred and fifty feet, until we came to the hut 
where we had slept. The situation of this hut was 
singularly perilous. The path which ascended to 
it from the plain was so steep, that in riding up we 
constantly expected to tumble backwards over the 
tails of our mules ; and when we got near the hut, 
the muleteers declared that it was altogether im- 
possible to proceed, and this was so evident, that 
we dismounted and scrambled over the loose stones 
until we got to the hut. 

The mine had not been worked for a hundred 
years, but it was now for sale. The hut had been 
just built, and a couple of miners ordered to live in 
it. A small space had been scarped out for the 



GOLD MINE OF CAREN. gH 

foundation of the hut, which was so close to the pre- 
cipice that there was not room to walk round it. 
Above it, on the mountain, were loose rocks, which 
by the first earthquake would probably be precipi- 
tated. Beneath w^as the valley, but at such a depth 
that objects in it were imperfectly distinguished. I 
consulted with the two mining Captains, and we all 
agreed that the plain was about three thousand feet 
beneath us ; but this only gives our imperfect idea 
of it, and is probably altogether incorrect; for 
although I spent some months among the Andes, I 
was always deceived in the distances, and found 
that my eye was altogether unable to estimate pro- 
portions to which it had never been accustomed — 
a trifling but a very striking proof of which oc- 
curred at this hut. 

We were sitting with the native miners, when one 
of my men called out that there was a condor, and 
we all instantly ran out. He had been attracted 
by the smell of a dead lamb, which we had brought, 
with us, and which was placed upon the roof of 
the hut. The enormous bird, with the feathers of 
his wings stretched out like radii or fingers, ma- 
jestically descended without the least fear, until 

p 2 



212 GOLD MINE OF CAREN. 

apparently he was only ten or fifteen yards above 
us. One of the men fired at him with a gun loaded 
with large shot — his legs fell, and he evidently had 
received the Avhole of the charge in his chest ; yet 
he instantly bent his course towards the snowy 
mountains which were opposite to us, and boldly 
attempted to cross the valley ; but, after flying for 
many seconds, he could go no further, and he began 
to tower. He rose perpendicularly to a great 
height, and then, suddenly dying in the air — so that 
we really saw his last convulsive struggle — he fell 
hke a stone. 

To my astonishment, he struck the side of the 
mountain apparently close to us ; and as I looked 
at him lying on the rock, I could not account for 
his being so very near us, (apparently thirty or 
forty yards,) for as he had evidently fallen perpen- 
dicularly, the distance which separated us was of 
course the hypothenuse of a right angled triangle, 
the base of which it had taken him many seconds 
to fly. 

I sent one of the Chili miners, who were accus- 
tomed to descend the mountain, to fetch him, and I 
went into the hut, and remained eight or ten mi- 



GOLD MINE OF CAREN. 213 

nutes. On coming out, and asking for the bird, 
I was surprised to see that the man was not half- 
way to him; and although he descended and 
ascended very actively, his return was equally long. 
The fact was, that the bird had reached the 
ground a great distance from us ; but this distance 
was so small in proportion to the stupendous ob- 
jects around us, that, accustomed to their dimen- 
sions, we were unable to appreciate it. 



ai4 



JOURNEY TO THE SILVER MINE OF 
SAN PEDRO NOLASCO. 

As soon as we returned to Santiago from the 
gold mine of Caren, we ordered fresh mules ; and 
the next morning, before day-break, we set off to 
inspect the silver mine of San Pedro Nolasco, 
which is in the Andes, about seventy-five miles 
south-west from Santiago. For a few miles we tra- 
versed the plain of Santiago, which was cool and 
refreshed by the night air: just as the day was 
dawning we reached the foot of the mountains, and 
then following the course of a large rapid torrent, 
we continued for several hours on the east side of 
it, climbing along a path which appeared to over- 
hang the water. 

As the sun gradually rose, the mountains on the 
opposite side were scorched by the heat, while we 
for several hours were in the shade and cool ; but the 
line of shadow, after crossing the torrent, gradually 
approached us, the sun at last looked over the high 



MINE OF SAN PEDRO NOLASCO. 215 

mountains which were above us, and that instant 
commenced the fatigue of the day. 

The valley of Maypo, down which the stream 
descended, is one celebrated in Chili for its beauty. 
Bounded on both sides by the barren mountains of 
the Cordillera, this delightful vale winds its course 
on both sides of the river or torrent of Maypo ; 
and although it is uncultivated, yet it is orna- 
mented with a great variety of shrubs and fruit- 
trees. 

For several leagues we passed trees loaded with 
ripe cherries, and peach trees which were bending 
towards the ground with the weight of their crop. 
The ground underneath was covered with the 
peach-stones of the last year's produce, and there 
must be thousands of these trees whose fruit has 
never once been tasted by man. The ground, al- 
though it produced shrubs and trees, had no ap- 
pearance of pasture, which cannot in a hot climate 
exist without irrigation. 

After travelling about thirty miles, we crossed 
the torrent of Maypo, on a suspension-bridge of 
hide ropes, the construction of which I examined 
with great attention, as I was surprised to find it 



SI 6 JOUENEY TO THE SILVER MINE 

exactly similar to those which I have seen con- 
structed in England of iron, although this bridge 
has been there beyond the memory of man. The 
path across it was covered with hurdles, and as the 
torrent was much swollen, the water was rushing 
over it with great velocity, which, of course, made 
the bridge incline very much. Our mules w^ere unwil- 
ling to cross it, and I certainly should have thought 
it dangerous, had not a man who was on the oppo- 
site side beckoned to us to come over. The bridge 
bent with the weight of the mules, and the water 
rushed with great violence against them, but they 
leaned against it, and we all passed it without 
accident; and in returning rode over it in the 
dark. 

After continuing our journey about four miles, 
we came to a small establishment for reducing the 
ores raised from San Pedro Nolasco, and for the in- 
teresting process of amalgamation, and we remained 
here for the evening to inspect it. 

Without entering into a description of the esta- 
blishment, it will only be observed, that the works 
were laid out with a great deal of ingenuity, with a 
very happy regard to economy, and that, although 



OF SAN I'EDllO NOLASCO. 217 

they of course did not possess many of the me- 
chanical advantages which a large capital might 
have afforded them, yet they were on a plan suited 
to the resources of the country, and upon the 
whole were well adapted for the economical 
reduction and amalgamation of ores upon a small 
scale. 

. The next morning, before sunrise, we continued 
our course towards San Pedro Nolasco, and for 
four or five hours followed the course of the river. 
The valley became narrower, and as we proceeded 
the trees and shrubs became smaller and more 
stunted— around us on every side were the Andes 
covered with snow. Our path was in many places 
very dangerous, being infinitely more so than any 
of the parts we had crossed in coming from Men- 
doza over the Cordillera. The laderas were lite- 
rally only a few inches wide, and were covered 
with stones, which were so loose, that every instant 
they rolled from under the mules'* feet, and fell with 
an accelerating violence into the torrent. As I 
rode almost the whole of the day by myself, T 
would willingly have got off; but the mules will 
never lead, and besides this, when once a person is 



k 



^18 JOURNEY TO THE SILVER MIKE 

on the ladera, on the back of his mule, it is impos- 
sible to dismount, for there is no room to get off, 
and the attempt to do so might throw the mule off 
his balance and precipitate him into the torrent, 
which was at an extraordinary depth beneath. In 
some few places, the path was actually washed 
away, and the mule had only to hurry over the in- 
clined surface the best way he could ; but the man- 
ner in which these patient animals preserve their 
footing is quite extraordinary, and to know their 
value one must see them in the Cordillera. After 
passing two or three very violent torrents, which 
rushed from the mountains above us into the river 
beneath us, we came to one which looked worse 
than those which we had with great difficulty 
crossed ; however, we had no alternative but to cross 
it, or return to Santiago. We attempted to drive 
the loose mules across, but one had scarcely put his 
feet into it, when he was carried away, and in less 
than twenty yards the box which he had on his 
back was dashed to pieces, and its contents were 
hurried down the surface of the stream. In order 
to get across, we put a lasso round our bodies, and. 
then rode through ; but the holes were so deep, that 



0¥ SAN PEDEO NOLASCO. 219 

the water occasionally came over the neck of the 
mule, and we passed with great difficulty. These 
poor creatures are dreadfully afraid of crossing 
these torrents; it is only constant spurring that 
obliges them to attempt it, and sometimes in the 
middle of the stream they will refuse to advance 
for several seconds. When the water is very deep, 
the arrieros always tie the lasso round their bodies ; 
but I never could conceive it was any security, 
because if the torrent will dash a wooden box to 
pieces, a man's skull would surely have a very bad 
chance. I was, therefore, always very glad when 
I found myself across them ; and, as our lives were 
insured in London for a large sum of money, I used 
often to think, that if the insurers could have looked 
down upon us, the sight of the laderas and of these 
torrents would have given a quickness to their 
pulse, a flush to their cheek, and a singing in their 
ears, very unlike the symptoms of placid calcula- 
tion. 

Shortly after passing this torrent, we turned 
towards the south, and began to climb the moun- 
tain of San Pedro Nolasco, which I can only 
describe by saying, that it is the steepest ascent 



SSO JOURNEY TO THE SILVER MINE 

which we ever made in all our expeditions among 
the Andes. For five hours we were continually 
holding on by the ears or neck of our mule, and 
the path was in some places so steep, that for a 
considerable time it was quite impossible to stop. 
We soon passed the limits of vegetation. The 
path went in zig-zags, although it was scarcely 
perceptible, and if the mules above us had fallen, 
they would certainly have rolled down upon us, 
and carried us with them. 

In mounting we constantly inquired of the 
arriero, if the point above our heads was the sum- 
mit, but as soon as we attained it, we found that 
we had still higher to go. On both sides of us we 
now came to groups of little wooden crosses, 
which were the spots where people formerly em- 
ployed in the mine had been overtaken by a storm, 
and had perished. However, we continued our 
course ; and at last, gaining the summit, we found 
ourselves close to the silver lode of San Pedro 
Nolasco, which is situated on one of the loftiest 
pinnacles of the Andes. A small solitary hut 
was before us, and we were accosted by two or 
three wretched-looking miners, whose pale coun- 



OV SAN PEDRO NOLASCO. 2S1 

tenances and exhausted frame seemed to assimilate 
with the scene around them. The view from the 
eminence on which we stood was magnificent — ^it 
was sublime ; but it Avas, at the same time, so 
terrific, that one could hardly help shuddering. 

Although it was midsummei', the snow where 
we stood was, according to the statement made 
to me by the agent of the mine, from twenty to a 
hundred-and- twenty feet deep, but blown by the 
wind into the most irregular forms, while in some 
places the black rock was visible. Beneath was the 
river and valley of Maypo, fed by a number of 
tributary streams, which we could see descending 
like small silver threads down the different ravines. 
We appeared to have a bird's-eye view of the 
great chain of the Andes, and we looked down 
upon a series of pinnacles of indescribable shapes 
and forms, all covered with an eternal snow. The 
whole scene around us in every direction was 
devoid of vegetation, and was a picture of desola- 
tion, on a scale of magnificence which made it 
peculiarly awful; and the knowledge that this 
vast mass of snow, so cheerless in appearance, was 
created for the use, and comfort, and happiness, 



JOURNEY TO THE SILVER MINE 

and even luxury of man ; that it was the inex- 
haustible reservoir from which the plains were 
supplied with water, — made us feel that there is 
no spot in creation which man should term barren, 
though there are many which Nature never intended 
for his residence. A large cloud of smoke was 
issuing from one of the pinnacles, which is the 
great volcano of San Francesco; and the silver 
lode, which was before us, seemed to run into the 
centre of the crater. 

As it was in the middle of the summer, I could 
not help reflecting what a dreadful abode this must 
be in winter, and I inquired of our guide and 
of the miners concerning its climate in that season. 
They at first silently pointed to the crosses, which, 
in groups of three and two and four, were to be 
seen in every direction ; and they then told me, 
that although the mine is altogether inaccessible 
for seven months in winter, yet that the miners 
used to be kept there all the year. They said 
that the cold was intense, but that what the miners 
most dreaded were the merciless temporales, or 
storms of snow, which came on so suddenly that 
many miners had been overtaken by them, and 



OF SAN PEDRO NOLASCO. 22S 

had perished when not a hundred and fifty yards 
from the hut. With these monuments before my 
eyes, it was really painful to consider what the 
feelings of those wretched creatures must have been 
when, groping about for their habitation, they found 
the violence of the storm unabating and irresistible. 
It was really melancholy to trace, or to fancy I 
could trace, by the different groups or crosses, the 
fate of the different individuals. Friends had 
huddled together, and had thus died on the road ; 
others had strayed from the path, and from the 
scattered crosses, they had apparently died as they 
were searching for it. One group was really in a 
very singular situation ; during a winter particu- 
larly severe, the miners' provisions, which consist of 
little else than hung-beef, were gradually failings 
when a party volunteered, to save themselves and 
the rest, that they would endeavour to get over the 
snow into the valley of Maypo, and return if pos- 
sible with food. They had scarcely left the hutj, 
when a storm came on, and they perished. The 
crosses are exactly where the bodies were found ;: 
they were all off the road ; two had died close toge- 
ther, one was about ten yards off, and one had 



SS4 JOURNEY TO THE SILVER MINE 

climbed to the top of a large loose fragment of 
rock, evidently to look for the hut on the road. 
The view from San Pedro Nolasco, taking it all 
together, is certainly the most dreadful scene which 
in my life I have ever witnessed ; and it appeared 
so little adapted or intended for a human residence, 
that when I commenced my inspection of the lode, 
and of the several mines, I could not help feeling 
that I was going against nature, and that no senti- 
ment but that of avarice could approve of establish- 
ing a number of fellow-creatures in a spot, which 
was a subject of astonishment to me how it ever 
was discovered.. 

As the snow was in many places fifty feet deep 
on the lode, I could only walk on the surface 
from one bocca-mina to another ; but when I had 
done this, I took off my clothes, and went down 
the mine which it was my particular object to in- 
spect. All the rest had long ago been deserted, 
but in this one there were a few miners, lately sent 
there, who were carrying on the works on the old 
system which had been exercised by the Spaniards, 
and to which these men have all their lives been 
accustomed. 



OF SAN PEDRO NOLASCO. 225 

At first we descended by an inclined gallery or 
level, and then clambered down the notched sticks, 
which are used in all the mines in South America 
as ladders. After descending about two hundred 
and fifty feet, walking occasionally along levels 
where the snow and mud were above our ancles, 
we came to the place where the men were working. 
It was astonishing to see the strength with which 
they plied their weighty hammers, and the unre- 
mitted exertion with which they worked ; and 
strange as it may appear, we all agreed that we 
had never seen Englishmen possess such strength, 
and v/ork so hard. While the barreteros, or 
miners, were working the lode, the apires were 
carrying the ore upon their backs; and after we 
had made the necessary observations, and had col- 
lected proper specimens, we ascended, with several 
of these apires above and below us. 

The fatigue of climbing up the notched sticks 
was so great, that we were almost exhausted, while 
the men behind us (with a long stick in one hand, 
in the cloven end of which there was a candle) 
were urging us not to stop them. The leading 
apire whistled whenever he came to certain spots, 



JOURNEY TO THE SILVER MINE 

and then the whole party rested for a few seconds. 
It was really very interesting, in looking above 
and below, to see these poor creatures, each lighted 
by his candle, and climbing up the notched 
stick with such a load upon his back, though I oc- 
casionally was a little afraid lest one of those 
above me might tumble, in which case we should 
have all preceded him in his fall. 

We were quite exhausted when we came to the 
mouth of the mine ; one of my party almost fainted^ 
and as the sun had long ago set, the air was so 
bleak and freezinor — we were so heated — and the 
scene was so cheerless, that Ave were glad to hurry 
into the hut, and to sit upon the ground round a 
dish of meat, which had long been ready for us. 
We had some brandy and sugar, and we soon 
refreshed ourselves, and I then sent out for one of 
the apires with his load. I put it on the ground^ 
and endeavoured to rise with it, but could not, and 
when two or three of my party put it on my 
shoulders I was barely able to walk under it. The 
English miner who was with us was one of the 
strongest men of all the Cornish party, yet he was 
scarcely able to walk with it, and two of our party 



OF SAN PEDRO NOLASCO. SS*7 

who attempted to support it were altogether un- 
able, and exclaimed '' that it would break their 
backs." 

The load which we tried was one of specimens 
which I had paid the apire to bring up for me, 
and which weighed more than usual, but not much, 
and he had carried it up with me, and was above 
me during the whole of the ascent. 

While we were at one end of the hut, drinking 
brandy-and-water, seated upon our saddles, and 
lighted by a brown tallow- candle which was stuck 
into a bottle, and which was not three yards from a 
hide filled with gunpowder; the few miners we 
had seen at work had been relieved by others who 
were to work through the night. They came into 
the hut, and without taking the least notice of 
us, prepared their supper, which was a very 
simple operation. The men took their candles out 
of the cloven sticks, and in the cleft they put a 
piece of dried beef ; this they warmed for a few 
seconds, over the embers which were burning on 
the ground, and they then eat it, and afterwards 
drank some melted snow-water out of a cow''s-horn. 

Their meal being over, they then enjoyed the 

Q 2 



228 MINE OF SAN PEDRO NOLASCO. 

only blessing fortune had allotted to them, which 
was rest from their labour. They said nothing to 
each other ; but as they sat upon the sheep-skin, 
Avhich was the only bed they had, some fixed their 
eyes upon the embers, while others seemed to rumi- 
nate upon other objects. 

I gave them what brandy I had, and asked them 
if they had no spirits, to which they gave me the 
usual answer, that miners are never allowed to have 
spirits, and with this law they seemed to be per- 
fectly satisfied. 

When one contrasted their situation with the in- 
dependent life of the Gaucho, it was surprising 
that they should voluntarily continue a life of such 
hardship. 



229 



DEPARTURE FROM SANTIAGO. 



December Slst, Santiago, midnight. — Mules ar- 
rived for us to recross the Cordillera to return to 
Buenos Aires — a large drove — two mules for each 
person — spare ones for the baggage. At one 
o'clock in the morning the mules were laden and 
ready — went across the street to the fonda, to get 
some breakfast, which was laid for us at one end of 
a long table — at the other end were two Scotchmen 
sitting without their coats, waistcoats, or neck- 
cloths — (midsummer.) 

They had been drinking-in the new year — in 
their heads there was " mair brandy than brains," 
yet their hearts were still true to their ^' auld re- 
spected mither." The room was evidently moving 
round them— they were singing (with action) 
'* Auld lang syne," and the one that was pitted 
with the small-pox seemed to feel it as much as the 
other they held out glasses to us, and begged us 



230 DEPARTURE FROM SANTIAGO. 

to join them — we declined — amusing contrast be- 
tween them and the gravity of my party, drinking 
tea, with their pistols in their belts, and prepared 
for a long journey — full chorus of Rule Britannia, 
then God save the King ; shook hands with the two 
Scotchmen — drank half a glass of their brandy, 
and then mounting our mules — we groped along in 
the dark towards the black mountains of the Cor- 
dillera. 



RETURN TO MENDOZA. 



Got to Uspallata late in the evening with two of the 
party ; at sunset the rest arrived. Mules tired — 
the maestro de posta had three horses, and being 
anxious to get on to Mendoza (ninety miles), three 
of us rode all night. We had three times travelled 
the road, and therefore went by ourselves. About 
half way we saw a fire on the ground, and by the 



EETURIsT TO MENDOZA. 231 

blaze we perceived some person near it — rode up 
to light our cigars, called several times, but found 
no one. On arriving at the hut near Villa Vicencia 
we mentioned the circumstance, and were told it 
was probably an Englishman who had passed the 
hut that day on foot ! — that he had probably been 
afraid of us, and had concealed himself, or had run 
away. 

Rested, and then got fresh horses at Villa Vicen- 
cia. The sun was most dreadfully hot. V\^e gal- 
loped across the plain — forty-five miles — each at our 
best pace — proceeded straggling, like the wounded 
Curiatii. I got into Mendoza three hours before 
the second — ^he got in two hours before the third, 
whose horse was tired on the road. 

In riding along the plain I passed a dead horse, 
about which were forty or fifty condors ; many of 
them were gorged and unable to fly ; several were 
standing on the ground devouring the carcass — the 
rest hovering above it. I rode within twenty yards 
of them : one of the largest of the birds was stand- 
ing with one foot on the ground and the other on 
the horse"'s body — display of muscular strength as 
he lifted the flesh and tore off great pieces, some- 



KETUllN TO MENDOZA. 

times shaking his head and pulling with his beak, 
and sometimes pushing with his leg. 

Got to Mendoza, and went to bed. Wakened by 
one of my party who arrived : he told me, that 
seeing the condors hovering in the air, and knowing 
that several of them would be gorged *, he had also 
ridden up to the dead horse, and that as one of 
these enormous birds flew about fifty yards off, and 
was unable to go any farther, he rode up to him, 
and then, jumping off his horse, seized him by the 
neck. The contest w^as extraordinary, and the 
rencontre unexpected. No two animals can well be 
imagined less likely to meet than a Cornish miner 
and a condor, and few could have calculated, a year 
ago, when the one was hovering high above the 
snowy pinnacles of the Cordillera, and the other 

* The manner in which the Gauchos catch these birds is to 
kill a horse and skin himj and they say that^ although not a 
condor is to be seen, the smell instantly attracts them. When 
I was at one of the mines in Chili, I idly mentioned to a person 
that I should like to have a condor: some days afterwards a 
Gauciio arrived at Santiago from this person with three large 
ones. They had all been caught in this manner, and had been 
hung over a horse; two had died of galloping, but the other 
■was alive. I gave the Gaucho a dollar, who immediately left 
me to consider what I could do with three such enormous birds. 



RETURN TO MENDOZA. 

many fathoms beneath the surface of the ground in 
Cornwall, that they would ever meet to wrestle and 
"hug" upon the wide desert plain of Villa- Vicen- 
cia. My companion said he had never had such a 
battle in his life ; that he put his knee upon the 
bird's breast, and tried with all his strength to twist 
his neck ; but' that the condor, objecting to this, 
struggled violently, and that also, as several others 
were flying over his head, he expected they would 
attack him. He said, that at last he succeeded in 
killing his antagonist, and with great pride he 
shewed me the large feathers from his wings ; but 
when the third horseman came in, he told us he had 
found the condor in the path, but not quite dead. 



234 



THE PAMPAS. 

I WAITED some time at the post-hut, talking with 
the old lady, who was always very kind and glad 
to see me, and was also extremely clever and enter- 
taining ; I then mounted my horse, and, after gal- 
loping nearly an hour, I overtook the coach just as 
it had reached the banks of the river Desaguadero, 
which was unusually deep and rapid. There was 
nothing but a small bark, but we lost no time in. 
filling it with the luggage, and then made prepara- 
tions for dragging the carriage through the river. 
I took off my clothes, and throwing them into the 
boat, I tied a silk handkerchief round my neck, 
and put my watch there to keep it dry. I had 
my pistols in my right hand, and I then rode into 
the river. The horse was instantly out of his 
depth, but he swam over very well. Just as I had 
scrambled up the bank, a man, dressed in a dirty- 
looking poncho, who lived in a hut^ about a hun- 

* The miners were one morning very much amused at the 
sight of a man "who was asleep upon the ground near this hut. 



THE PAMPAS. 235 

dred yards oif, came up and asked to be paid for 
the boat ; I told him I would pay him as soon as 
the coach was over, and I asked him to take care 
of my pistols for me, and he accordingly took them 
to his hut. 

We then set to work to get the carriage over, 
which was a very curious operation. The bank to 
descend to the river was much steeper than 45^, 
and it was therefore necessary to fix a peon, with 
his horse and lasso to the back part of the carriage, 
to prevent its oversetting ; we had also lassos fas- 
tened as guys on each side. Two or three peons 
fixed their lassos to the end of the pole, and one swam 
across the river with a long drag rope, to which eight 
or ten horses were affixed to assist in dragging the 
carriage. As soon as these arrangements were made, 
the carriage was lowered down the bank, but its 
weight was so great that it dragged after it the peon 
and horse fixed to retain it ; and while our party also 
were hauling at the rope, it was curious to see them 
all dragged down the bank. As soon as the car- 
riage came into the river, although the wheels and 

His wife had just risen, but he was still snoring, with his head 
lying on a bullock's skull, which had an enormous pair of horns. 



S36 THE PAMPAS. 

perch were unusually high, it was nearly filled 
with water. In this state the peons whose lassos 
were fixed to the end of the pole, with all the 
horses at the drag rope, dragged the carriage slowly 
along the bottom of the river : however, when it 
was about half-way across, it would come no far- 
ther, and the horses which were on the steep bank 
had little power to draw. The carriage remained 
in this hopeless and singular situation more than an 
hour, during which time we were occupied in alter- 
ing the drag ropes, and arranging them more ad- 
vantageously. 

I found the sun so burning hot, that several 
times I swam about on my horse to cool myself, and 
then galloped on the opposite side of the river, and 
I cannot express the delightful feeling of freedom 
and independence which one enjoys in galloping 
without clothes on a horse without a saddle. 

When the horses and peons were ready, they all 
started together, and at last the carriage began 
again to move ; and the peons then spurring, flog- 
ging, and cheering their horses, it was dragged up 
the bank. 

While they were putting the luggage into the 



THE PAMPAS. S37 

wet carriage, I dressed myself, and then rode up to 
the hut to pay the man for his boat. He demanded 
twelve dollars, which I knew was too much, and I 
therefore refused to give it. In a moment, he was 
in a violent passion ; he addressed himself some- 
times to me, and sometimes to some Gauchos who 
were sitting drinking ; and he was approaching me 
with menacing gestures, when I took my pistols oif 
his table, and before I placed them into my belt, 
I put the muzzle of one of them against his front 
tooth, and told him very quietly, that I would 
pay him what was proper, but that if he demanded 
more, I would only pay him with that pistol. In 
an instant, the man desired one of the Gauchos to 
saddle him a horse, in order to ride to the Governor 
of St. Luis, who he said was a relation of his, and 
he then told me that he was himself a j udge. J 
laughed at him, and telling him that he was a bad 
judge in his own cause, I left him, and rode after 
the coach. 

In about half an hour the fellow overtook me, 
and without speaking he galloped by me. He was 
dressed in his judicial robes ; that is, he had on a 
coarse bluejacket, with scarlet cuiFs and collar, and- 



S38 THE PAMPAS. 

a long sabre. I now continued my course for the 
remainder of this post, which is fifty-one miles, 
changing my horse when I overtook the droves of 
loose horses which preceded the carriage. 

This stage is really one of the most singular ex- 
amples of South American travelling which I have 
witnessed. We started with seventy horses, which 
were driven before us at a gallop. These horses 
were all loose"; and the country hot sand, covered 
with trees and brushwood. The trees are princi- 
pally the Algarroba ; they were about the size and 
shape of apple-trees, and were sufficiently high to 
hide the horses. This drove of wild loose animals 
was driven by a man and a boy, and it was quite 
surprising, as I galloped along the road, to see 
these fellows constantly darting across the path be- 
fore me, in close pursuit of the horses, which were 
never to be seen in the road. In the plains of grass 
it is even w^onderful to see how the troops of horses 
are driven on, but in a wood it is much more asto- 
nishing ; and it is a beautiful display of horseman- 
ship to see the Gauchos galloping at full speed 
among the trees, sometimes hanging over one side 
of their horse, and sometimes crouching upon his 



THE PAMPAS. 239 

neck to avoid the branches of the trees. The car- 
riage road is a space cleared of large trees, but 
it is often covered with bushes, which bend under 
the carriage in a most extraordinary manner. 

I arrived at the post some hours before the car- 
riage, and had supper ready by the time it arrived. 
This post is only one stage from St. Luis ; the 
postmaster is the brother of the governor of the 
province, and he was at St. Luis when I arrived, 
but his capataz asked me, with great seriousness of 
countenance, whether I was the person who had 
galloped after the judge at the Desaguadero, in 
order to shoot him. He told me that the said Juez 
had just passed, and had taken a fresh horse to get 
to St. Luis before I arrived there. We slept that 
night at the post, or rather on the ground before it ; 
and it was curious, in the morning, to see the dif- 
ferent groups of people, who had also slept there, 
dressing themselves ; — men, women, and children, 
were all sitting up as if just risen from the grave — 
some were scratching themselves, some were rubbing 
their eyes, some putting on their hide sandals; — 
the hens were pecking about them, particularly 
round the table at which we had supped. The 



240 THE PAMPAS. 

great dogs, who had also just awakened, were 
walking very slowly with their tails between their 
legs towards the corral, where there is always a 
supply of food for them. The infants were still 
sleeping, each upon a lamb's skin, on the ground, 
without a pillow, covered only with a piece of dirty 
blanket, and sometimes the hens would perch upon 
them. As soon as the horses were caught we set 
off, and I galloped into St. Luis, and got there an 
hour before the carriage. I found the post as 
usual; there was nothing to be had — no fruit, 
though in the middle of summer, and no milk. The 
people of the post-house told me, that the Juez had 
arrived there last night, and it appeared that his 
story had been much inflamed by his gallop. As 
soon as the carriage arrived, the Juez and an orde- 
nanza, or horse-soldier, came up to the post, and 
told me that I was to come immediately to the 
governor. I had a white linen jacket on, which 
was really too dirty to go in, so I resolved to put 
on a coat. On opening my portmanteau, out came 
a quantity of water, and I found that it had been 
filled in passing the Desaguadero — my coat was con- 
sequently dripping wet ; however, I put it on, and 



THE PAMPAS. 241 

as I knew the way, I galloped towards the barracks 
followed by the Juez and the Ordenanza. I found 
the square fiUed by a set of most wretched-looking 
persons, who were assembled to be sent to Buenos 
Aires to fight against the Portuguese. There 
were about three-hundred of them, and the night 
before they had endeavoured to gain their liberty, 
and had tried to overpower their guard. They 
were covered with old ponchos, but had very little on 
besides ; they seemed to have been badly fed, and were 
altogether the wildest-looking crew I ever beheld. 

The governor was standing in the middle of the 
square, surrounded by a number of officers, and I 
dismounted and walked up to him. He began, 
very hastily, by telling me the Juez's story ; how- 
ever, I asked him if he would allow me to tell mine. 
I told him that it was so much my duty to respect 
governors and governments, that if I had known the 
man who was before us had been in his employ- 
ment, I would have respected him, though his 
conduct did not deserve it; but that instead of 
wearing the clothes he now had on, he was dressed 
in a dirty poncho — was drinking aquadiente with 
the Gauchos, and that I had therefore no idea he 

E 



242 THE PAMPAS. 

was a Judge. I explained the circumstances, and 
the ojovernor then told the man that he had asked 
too much, and that I was to pay him three dollars 
less than he had demanded. The governor offered, 
very obligingly, to lend me the money as I had no 
change ; he paid the man, who had not a word to 
say, and who had his ride, one hundred and eighty 
miles, for nothing. I then went into the governor's 
room, and mentioned to him that our carriage 
wanted a trifling repair, but that the blacksmith 
had told me he could not work at it without per- 
mission from him, as he was employed in making^ 
chains to take the three hundred recruits down to 
Buenos Aires. The governor very politely sent 
for the smith, and desired him to work for me for 
three hours ; after which I made my bow, and then 
galloped to the post. 

While the smith was repairing the carriage, I 
looked again at the town of San Luis. Each house 
in the town has a large garden, in which there is 
nothing but what they cannot prevent from growing, 
such as fig trees, vines, peach trees. The walls of 
their gardens are often towards the streets, which 
gives the place so little the appearance of a town;, 



THE PAMPAS. 

that the first time I came to San Luis, I actually 
asked a man how far I was from El Pueblo ; to 
which he replied, that I was in it. From twelve 
till four or five every day, the whole population of 
the town is asleep, and when the people awake, 
they have no other idea than that. of satisfying their 
hunger, by eating the old dish, carne de vacca- 
Far from having any luxuries, they have not even 
what we term common necessaries ; and it seems 
incredible that there should be no individual in the 
whole town, or indeed the province, who even pro« 
fesses to know any thing of medicine or surgery ; 
and that there is no shop at which one can purchase 
the simplest medicines. If a person is ill, he dies or 
recovers as it may happen, but he has no assistance. 
If he dislocates or breaks a bone, his friends may 
regret the accident, but he has no help. The 
Gaucho, who lives in his little hut on the Pampas,, 
must necessarily be wkhout medical assistance, and 
it is interesting to see his young family living so 
completely under the sole protection of Providence ; 
but for the capital of a province to continue in such 
a state, shows an indolence, which its peculiar situ- 
ation can only excuse. 

R 2 



^44 THE PAMPAS. 

The post-house of San Luis is also in a state 
which would scarcely be credited. It is in nothing 
better than the post-huts of the Pampas ; it has no 
window, the door cannot be shut, and it is more 
filthy than can well be described. It was late 
before the carriage was ready ; however as I was 
anxious it should get on, it started with three 
changes of horses, about an hour before sunset, to 
go to the next post, which is thirty-six miles. I 
rode by a different road, and it was settled that we 
should all get on by moonlight ; however, as soon 
as the sun set the weather began to look wild, and 
it became very cloudy and dark. I continued to 
gallop until I could not see my hand before me, 
and as I knew there were many holes and bisca- 
cheros, we then slackened to an ambling canter. It 
is really very nervous, disagreeable work even to 
canter over a strange country when it is quite dark ; 
however. I was anxious if possible to reach the post, 
as it was the nearest hut we could get to. I was can- 
tering along, expecting every moment to tumble 
head over heels, when my horse suddenly struck his 
chest against the back of the Gaucho''s horse, which 
was standing still. As soon as I found out what it 



THE PAMPAS. S45 

was I spoke to the man, but I received no answer ; 
I then called out, when he told me from some dis- 
tance, that he was feeling with his hands for the 
path — that he could not find it, — and that there 
were so many holes that, as we had lost ourselves, 
it would be dangerous to proceed. I accordingly 
dismounted, and, unsaddling my horse, I had in- 
stantly my bed ready. I could see nothing, but 
the Gaucho and I made our beds side by side, and 
as soon as we lay down he tied the horses' bridles 
round his own neck, and he then was asleep in a 
moment. 

The country we were in was much infested by 
salteadores (robbers,) but as I was always well 
armed I felt quite secure, and in a short time I was 
also asleep. About midnight I was awakened by 
the rolling of thunder, and, sitting up, I saw by 
the occasional flashes of lightning that I was lying 
on brown coarse grass, and that there were here 
and there a few shrubs. Some large heavy drops 
of rain began now to fall, and I made up my mind 
that we were to have a drenching shower ; how- 
ever, it was useless to move, for I did not know 
where to go, so I took the usual precaution, which 



^46 THE PAMPAS. 

is to place the skin which, in dry weather, one hes 
on, over my head, and I then went to sleep. Before 
the day began to dawn I was awakened by the 
Gaucho, who told me the horses were lost. I told 
him very sulkily to go and look for them, and, with 
my head under the skin, I again dropped off to 
^leep. I was awoke by the heat of the sun, and 

jumping up found that it was above the horizon, 
and that it was late. I looked earnestly round me, 
but, except a few shrubs, there was nothing but 
" the wind blowing and the grass growing," — in 
every direction was a vast expanse of plain. I 
began to think that the man had returned to San 
Xuis, and I really did not know what I should do. 
The sun was oppressively hot, and I was standing 
in despair, gazing at the recado which had formed 
my bed, when I heard the distant notes of a Spa- 
nish song behind me, and turning round I saw the 
Gaucho galloping towards me, and driving my 
horse before him. In a few moments he came up : 
my horse was of course without a bridle ; the fellow 
had played me the old trick of hiding it, and de- 
claring it was lost. However, I was glad to get my 
horse upon any terms, and I cut a piece of hide. 



THE PAMPAS. 



S47 



which served to guide him, and we then galloped 
towards the post, from which we were distant about 
thirteen miles. 

I there got some breakfast, while they were 
catching another horse for me. They had neither 
bread nor milk, but I got some water, a couple of 
eggs, and an old woman warmed some charque for 
me over the embers. I was surrounded by several 
women and girls, all three-quarters naked, who 
asked me if I could give them mate or sugar, 
*' por remedio ?" As soon as my horse was saddled, 
I purchased the bridle of the Gaucho who had 
stolen mine, and then galloped on. The country, 
which from Mendoza is covered with wood, now 
changes to the long brown and yellow grass, which, 
excepting a few straggling trees, is the sole produce 
of the remainder of the province of San Luis, and 
of the two adjoining provinces of Cordova and 
Santa F6. In the whole of this immense region 
there is not a weed to be seen. The coarse grass 
is its sole produce ; and in the summer when it is 
high, it is beautiful to see the effect which the wind 
has in passing over this wild expanse of waving 
grass : the shades between the brown and yellow 



248 THE PAMPAS. 

are beautiful — the scene is placid beyond descrip- 
tion — no habitation nor human being is to be seen, 
unless occasionally the wild and picturesque outline 
of the Gaucho on the horizon — his scarlet poncho 
streaming horizontally behind him, his balls flying 
round his head, and as he bends forward towards 
his prey, his horse straining every nerve : before 
him is the ostrich he is pursuing, the distance be- 
tween them gradually diminishing — his neck stretch- 
ed out, and striding over the ground in the most 
magnificent style — ^but the latter is soon lost in the 
distance, and the Gaucho's horse is often below the 
horizon, while his head shews that the chase is not 
yet decided. This pursuit is really attended with 
considerable danger, for the ground is always under- 
mined by the biscachos, and the Gaucho often falls 
at full speed ; if he breaks a limb his horse proba- 
bly gallops away, and there he is left in the long 
grass, until one of his comrades or children come to 
his assistance ; but if they are unsuccessful in their 
search, he has nothing left but to look up to heaven, 
and while he lives drive from his bed the wild 
eagles, who are always ready to attack any fallen 
animal. The country has no striking features, but 



THE PAMPAS. 249 

it possesses, like all the works of nature, ten 
thousand beauties. It has also the grandeur 
and magnificence of space, and I found that the 
oftener I crossed it, the more charms I discovered 
in it. 

On approaching the huts, it is interesting to see 
the little Gauchos, who, brought up without wants, 
and taught to consider the heaven over their heads 
as a canopy under which they may all sleep, lite- 
rally climb up the tails of the horses which they are 
unable otherwise to mount, and then sport and gal- 
lop after each other, while their father's stirrups 
are dangling below their naked feet. In the fore- 
ground of Nature, there is perhaps no figure so 
beautiful as that of a child who rides well, and the 
picturesque dress of the little Gauchos adds very 
much to their appearance. I have often admired 
them as they have been sent with me from one post 
to another. Although the shape of their body is 
concealed by the poncho, yet the manner in which 
it partakes of the motion of the horse is particularly 
elegant. It is interesting, too, to see the heedless, 
careless way in which these little chubby-faced 
creatures ride, and how thoughtlessly they drive 



^50 THE PAMPAS. 

their horses among biscacheros, which would break 
in with the weight of a man. 

When I got to El Morro I resolved to wait there 
for the carriage, for I had the keys of my portman- 
teau, and both I and my party wanted money. El 
Morro consists of a few mud huts, as usual without 
windows ; and as I stood at the door of the post- 
room no human being was to be seen, except occa- 
sionally a woman with her hand or poncho shading 
off the sun from her head as she crossed the broad 
irregular street which divided the huts from each 
other : here and there a horse was seen tied to the 
outside of a hut, and a little tame ostrich was be- 
fore the door running after flies : the atmosphere 
was quivering with the heat, and resounding with 
the shrill cry of millions of flies enjoying the sun. 
There were no trees to be seen, and neither fruit 
nor flowers to be had. I went to the woman of 
the post to ask what she had got to eat : '* Nada 
(nothing), Senor," she replied. I asked for se- 
veral things which, from seeing a church and a 
small congregation of huts, I thought might have 
been been procured, but I received the usual an- 
swer, '' No hai,*' and I was obliged to send out for 



THE PAMPAS. 251 

a live sheep. I then took a siesta, and it was late 
in the evening before the carriage and the party 
arrived. They had stopped at a hut a few leagues 
from San Luis, and had afterwards broken the pole 
of the carriage, which had delayed them several 
hours. After supper I thought that the weather 
looked very wild, and I therefore got into the four- 
wheeled carriage to sleep, and one of the party was 
close to me in the two- wheeled one. The nine 
peons were scattered about the ground. Two of 
our party slept under the carriage, and the rest on 
the ground in different places. About midnight 
we were awakened by a most sudden and violent 
whirlwind, which blew several of the party^s clothes 
away, and they were afterwards found in the river. 
There was so much dust that we could scarcely 
breathe, and all was utter darkness until the light- 
ning suddenly flashed over our heads : the thunder 
was unusually loud, and down came a deluge of 
rain. The wind, which was what is termed a Pam- 
pero, was now a dreadful hurricane, and I ex- 
pected every moment that it would overturn the 
carriage. I sat up and looked around me, and in my 
life I never saw so much of the sublime and of the 
ridiculous mixed together. While the elements were 



^52 THE PAMPAS. 

raging, and the thunder was cracking and roaring 
immediately above us, the Hghtning would for an 
instant change the darkness to the hght of day. In 
these flashes I saw our party, who were all hallooing 
one to another, in the most ludicrous situations. 
Some were lying in bed afraid to sit up, and hold- 
ing their ponchos and clothes, which were trying to 
escape from them — some who had lost their clothes 
were running half-naked towards the post-room — 
others had lost their way, and were standing against 
a dead wall, not knowing where to go. A French 
Colonel, who had travelled in the carriage from 
Mendoza, was lying on a stretcher made of a bul- 
lock's hide, grasping his clothes, which were now 
wet through, and vociferating at his cowardly ser- 
vant, who, instead of assisting him, was standing 
about ten yards from him crossing himself. In vain 
did he call him in Spanish every sort of '' animal :" 
the fellow, who had literally been approaching 
his master, was rivetted to the ground by the un- 
expected sound of the church-bell, which, from the 
violence of the hurricane, occasionally gave a soli- 
tary toll. The rain beat so violently into the two- 
wheeled carriage, and it shook so terribly, that its 
inmate could bear it no longer, and ran through 



THE PAMPAS. 

the rain. At last they all got into the post-room, 
and as I looked out of the window, I saw them all 
crowded together peeping over each other's heads 
at the door. 

In the morning they found what they had lost, 
and the peons and the whole party looked very un- 
comfortable. Many of the peons had lain on the 
ground the whole time, and they were of course co- 
vered with the mud which had been formed by the 
dust and rain. The peons and the people told us 
they had never seen such a storm and pampero 
before in their lives. 

The carriage was late in starting, and the sun 
was already up, when the French Colonel and I 
agreed to make a call on the priest. He was 
dressed in a dirty-white serge gown, tied round his 
body, with a rope to whip himself with ; he was 
really not more than four feet and a half high, and 
yet weighed more than any of our party ; his neck 
was as thick as a bullock's, and he had not been 
shaved for several days. In his room, which had 
no window, were two or three old books, covered 
with dust, and a little crucifix affixed to the wall. 
I asked him if it was he who had tolled the bell 



S54 THE PAMPAS. 

during the storm; he said. Oh, no! that he had 
ridden a number of leagues the day before, and had 
slept so sound, that he had not heard it, and had 
only just been informed of it. 

On account of the party's clothes being so wet, 
we lost a great deal of time, and it was seven 
o'clock before we started. The two carriages went 
by the road, but the post- master told a little 
Gaucho to take me by a nearer cut. I followed 
this little child, who was not more than eight years 
old, for many leagues. He rode like the wind, and 
amused me extremely by a number of very enter- 
taining stories which he told me. At last it began 
to rain, and the little boy said, " Quien sabe^' if 
ever he should find out the post, for that he had 
never before come that way. It was no use stop- 
ping, and as I galloped along, I made the child 
tell me the directions which the post -master had 
given to him, but I could make nothing at all of 
them. One would have thought by the child's de- 
scription, that it was a mountainous country we 
were crossing, for he talked of hills and valleys 
which I could not see ; but the Gauchos do divide 
their plains into ups and downs, which no one can 



THE PAMPAS. ^55 

distinguish but themselves. At last the child ex- 
claimed, that he could see a " Cristiano" driving 
some horses, and when we came to this man, he 
told us where the post was. 

I found the horses at the post in the corral, and 
the post-master, whose house I had several times 
slept at, gave me a horse with a galope largo (a 
long gallop), and a very handsome Gaucho as a 
guide. I had a long conversation with this man as 
I galloped along, and I found him a very noble- 
minded fellow. He was very desirous to hear 
about the troops which the government of Mendoza 
had sent to reinstate the governor of San Juan, 
who had just been deposed by a revolution. The 
Gaucho was very indignant at this interference; 
and as we rode along, he explained to me, with a 
great deal of fine action, what was evident enough, 
—that the Province of San Juan was as free to 
elect its governor as the Province of Mendoza, and 
that Mendoza had no right to force upon San 
Juan a governor that the people did not approve 
of. He then talked of the state of San Luis ; but 
to some question which I put to him, the man 
replied, that he had never been at San Luis I 



256 THE PAMPAS. 

'' Good heavens !" said I, with an astonishment 
which I could not conceal, — " have you never been 
to see San Luis?" — " Never," he replied. I asked 
him where he was born ; he told me, in the hut 
close to the post; that he had never gone beyond 
the plains through which we were riding, and that 
he had never seen a town or a village. I asked 
him how old he was: " Quien sabe,'' said he. It 
was no use asking him any more questions ; so, 
occasionally looking at his particularly handsome 
figure and countenance, and calling to mind the 
manly opinions he had expressed to me on many 
subjects, I was thinking what people in England 
would say of a man who could neither read nor 
write, nor had ever seen three huts together, &c. 
&C.5 when the Gaucho pointed to the sky, and 
said, " See ! there is a lion !" I started from my 
reverie, and strained my eyes, but to no purpose, 
until he shewed me at last, very high in the air, a 
number of large vultures, which were hovering 
without moving ; and he told me they were there 
because there was a lion devouring some carcass, 
and that he had driven them away from it. We 
shortly afterwards came to a place where there was 



THE PAMPAS. S57 

a little blood on the road, and for a moment we 
stopped our horses to look at it ; I observed, that 
perhaps some person had been murdered there; 
the Gaucho said, *' No," and pointing to some foot- 
marks which were near the blood, he told me that 
some man had fallen, that he had broken his 
bridle, and that, while he was standing to mend it, 
the blood had evidently come from the horse's mouth. 
I observed, that perhaps it was the man who was 
hurt, upon which the Gaucho said, ''No," and point- 
ing to some marks a few yards before him on the 
path, he said, " for see the horse set off at a gallop *.*" 
The grass was shorter in this part of the pro- 
vince than it usually is, and it was very picturesque 
and curious as we went along to see bullocks' skulls 
lying in different directions. The skeleton of the 
bulFs head was justly admitted by the ancients as 
an ornament in their architecture. In the Pampas 
it is often seen lying on the ground bleached by the 

* I often amused myself by learning from the Gauchos 
to decipher the foot-marks of the horses, and the study was 
very interesting. It is quite possible to determine from these 
marks, whether the horses were loose, mounted, or laden with 
baggage ; whether they were ridden by old men or by young 
ones, by children, or by foreigners unacquainted with the 
biscacheros,&c. &c. 



S58 THE PAMPAS. 

sun, with the horns upwards, and appearing as if 
the animal had just risen from his grave, and was 
moralising to the living cattle which were feeding 
about him. 

In consequence of what this man had told me 
respecting his birth, &c., I asked every one of the 
Gauchos who rode with me from post to post, 
for the next six hundred miles, the same questions, 
and I found that the greater number of them had 
never seen a town, and that no one of them knew 
his age. When we came to the post, which is one 
of the richest possessions in the Pampas, I found 
about twenty Gauchos assembled to commence 
breaking in the young horses, an operation which 
was to be continued for many days. As the 
carriage was many hours behind me, I resolved to 
see this, and, getting a fresh horse, I rode immedi^ 
ately to the corral, and soon made friends with 
the Gauchos, who are always polite, and on horse- 
back possess many estimable qualities, which at the 
door of their hut they appear to be devoid of. 
The corral was quite full of horses, most of 
which were young ones, about three and four years 
old. The capataz, mounted on a strong steady 
horse, rode into the corral, and threw his lasso 



THE PAMPAS. 2^9 

over the neck of a young horse, and dragged him 
to the gate. For some time he was very unwilling 
to leave his comrades, but the moment he was 
forced out of the corral, his first idea was to 
gallop away; however, the jerk of the lasso 
checked him in a most effectual manner. The peons 
now ran after him on foot, and threw the lasso 
over his four legs, just above the fetlocks, and^ 
twitching it, they pulled his legs from under him so, 
suddenly, that I really thought the fall he got 
had killed him. In an instant a Gaucho was 
seated upon his head, and with his long knife 
in a few seconds he cut off the whole of the horse's 
mane, while another cut the hair from the end of 
his tail. This, they told me, is a mark that the 
horse has been once mounted. They then put 
a piece of hide into his mouth, to serve as a bit, 
and a strong hide-halter on his head. The Gaucho^ 
who was to mount, arranged his spurs, which were 
unusually long and sharp, and while two men held 
the animal by his ears, he put on the saddle, 
which he girthed extremely tight ; he then caught 
hold of the horse's ear, and, in an instant, vaulted 
into the saddle; upon which the man, who was 
holding the horse by the halter, threw the end of 

iS 2 



260 THE PAMPAS. 

it to the rider, and from that moment no one 
seemed to take any further notice of him. The 
horse instantly began to jump, in a manner which 
made it very difficult for the rider to keep his seat, 
and quite different from the kick or plunge of an 
English horse: however, the Gaucho's spurs soon 
set him going, and oJ0P he galloped, doing every- 
thing in his power to throw his rider. Another 
horse was immediately brought from the corral, 
and so quick was the operation, that twelve Gau- 
chos were mounted in a space which, I think, 
hardly exceeded an hour. 

It was wonderful to see the different manner in 
which the different horses behaved. Some would 
actually scream while the Gauchos were girthing 
the saddle upon their backs ; some would instantly 
lie down and roll upon it; while some would stand 
without being held, their legs stiff, and in unnatural 
directions, their necks half bent towards their tails, 
and looking vicious and obstinate ; and I could not 
help thinking that I would not have mounted one of 
these for any reward that could be offered me, for 
they were invariably the most difficult to subdue. 

It was now curious to look round and see the 
Gauchos on the horizon in different directions, 



THE PAMPAS. 



S61 



trying to bring their horses back to the corral, 
which is the most difficult part of their work, for 
the poor creatures had been so scared there that 
they are unwilling to return to the place. It was 
amusing to see the antics of the horses; they 
were jumping and dancing in different ways, 
while the right arms of the Gauchos were seen 
flogging them. At last they brought the horses 
back, apparently completely subdued and broken 
in. The saddles and bridles were taken off, and 
the young horses immediately trotted towards the 
corral to join their companions, neighing one to 
the other. Another set were now brought out, 
and as the horses were kept out a very short time, 
I saw about forty of them mounted. As they 
returned to the corral it was interesting to see the 
great contrast which the loss of the mane, and the 
end of the tail, made between the horses which 
had commenced their career of servitude, and 
those which were still free. 

The horses of the Pampas are like the common 
description of Spanish horse, but rather stronger. 
They are of all colours, and a great number are 
pie-bald. When caught, they will always kick at 
any person who goes behind them ; and it is often 



262 THE PAMPAS. 

with great difficulty that they can be bridled and 
saddled : however, they are not vicious, and when 
properly broken in, will allow the children to mount 
by climbing up their tails. In mounting, it is ne- 
cessary to be very quick, and previous to dismount- 
ing, it is proper to throw the bridle over one side of 
the head, as the horses almost always run back- 
wards if one attempts to hold them by the bridle 
when it is over the head, as in England. 

Although I rode many thousand miles in South 
America, I was quite unable to learn how to select 
either a good horse or an easy-going one, for by 
their appearance I found it impossible to form a 
judgment ; indeed, I generally selected for myself 
the worst-looking horses, as I sometimes fancied 
that they went the best. 

When first mounted, they often begin to kick 
and plunge, but by giving them a loose rein, and 
by spurring them, they will generally start, and 
when once at their pace, they go quiet. However, 
the kicking at starting is a most painful operation 
to undergo, for from hard riding the back and 
shoulders get so dreadfully stiff, that such sudden 
and violent motion seems to dislocate the limbs. 

The evening closed, but the carriages did not ap- 



THE PAMPAS. 

pear. I anxiously looked on the horizon for them, 
until it became dark ; I then went into the post- 
room, and ordered one of the women to bring me 
the roast-beef and soup which was prepared for the 
party. I was quite ravenous, for I had been so oc- 
cupied with the horses, that I had forgotten that I 
had eaten nothing since daylight. The woman, 
brought me a dirty sheet four times doubled, which 
she put on the little square table, then a bottle of 
wine; " Have you a glass .^''' "No hai, senor." 
^' Oh, never mind,'"* said I, putting the bottle to 
my mouth. The woman returned with the beef 
cut up into pieces, in a pewter dish ; it was smok- 
ing, and looked very nice ; and she also gave me 
some bread. I instantly took out of my pocket a 
clasp knife and fork. She asked me if I wanted 
anything else? "No," said I, putting a piece of 
the beef into my mouth ; but as she was going out 
of the door, I called her back, and asked her to 
get me some salt. " Aqui sta, senor," said the wo- 
man, apparently recollecting herself; and opening 
her right hand, she put very quietly upon the table 
some salt which she had intended for me, and be- 
cause some of it stuck to her hand, she scratched it 



THE PAMPAS. 

off with her fingers, and seemed resolved that I 
should have every particle of it. 

There was no candlestick, but, with the beef, a 
little black girl about seven years old, and almost 
naked, brought in a crooked, brown, tallow-candle, 
which she held in her hand all the time I dined. 
The little creature had gold ear-rings and a neck- 
lace of red beads. I gave her a large piece of 
bread, which she eat very slowly, with the most 
perfect gravity of countenance. As I was dining, 
I occasionally looked at her; nothing was white 
but her eyes and the piece of bread in her mouth; 
she was watching every mouthful I ate, and her eyes 
accompanied my fork from the pewter dish to my 
mouth. With her left hand she was scratching her 
little woolly head, but nothing moved except her 
black fingers, and she stood as still as a bronze statue. 

The carriage did not arrive, so I laid my saddle 
in front of the post, and slept there. It was 
late in the morning before one of the peons came 
to tell me that the two-wheeled carriage had broken 
down in spite of all its repairs ; that it was in the 
middle of the plain, and that the party had been 
obliged to ride, and put the baggage on post-horses, 



THE PAMPAS. ^65 

and that they would be with me immediately. As 
soon as they arrived, they told me their story, and 
asked what was to be done with the carriage *. It 
was not worth more than one hundred dollars ; and 
it would have cost more than that sum to have 
guarded it, and to have sent a wheel to it six hun- 
dred miles from Buenos Aires ; so I condemned it 
to remain where it was, to be plundered of its 
lining by the Gauchos, and to be gazed at by the 
eagle and the gama, — in short, I left it to its fate. 
I had been much detained by the carriages, and I 
was so anxious to get to Buenos Aires without a 
moments delay, that I resolved instantly to ride on 
by myself. Three of my party expressed a wish 
to accompany me, instead of riding with the car- 
riage ; so after taking from the canvass bag suffi- 
cient money for the distance, (about six hundred 

* After the party had left one of the posts about an hour, and 
when they were twelve or thirteen miles from it, they saw a man 
galloping after the carriage, endeavouring to overtake it. They 
stopped, and when he came up, they found it was the master of 
the post-hut where they had slept. He said very civilly that 
they had forgotten to pay him for the eggs, and that they there- 
fore owed him a medio, (two-pence halfpenny). They paid him 
the money, neither more nor less, and then galloped on, leaving 
the man apparently perfectly satisfied. 



^66 



THE PAMPAS, 



miles,) I left the rest for the coach, and once more 
careless of wheels and axles, I galloped off with a 
feeling of independence which was quite delightful. 
We travelled sixty miles that day, not losing 
one moment, but riding at once to the corral, and 
unsaddling and saddling our own horses. The 
next morning one of the party was unable to pro* 
ceed, so he remained at the post, and we were off 
before dayhght. After galloping forty-five miles, 
another said he was so jolted that he could not go 
on, and he also remained at the post to be picked 
up by the carriage : we then continued for sixteen 
miles, when the other knocked up, and he really 
was scarcely able to crawl into the post-hut, where 
he remained. As I was very anxious to get to 
Buenos Aires, and was determined to get there as 
quick as my strength would allow, I rode sixty miles 
more that day, during which my horse fell twice 
with me, and I arrived at the post an hour after sun- 
set, quite exhausted. I found nothing to eat, be- 
cause the people who live at this post were bathing, 
so I went to another part of the river, and had a 
most refreshing bathe. I then spread out my 
saddle on the ground, for the post-room was full 



THE PAMPAS. £67 

of fleas and binchucas. The people had now re- 
turned from the river, and supper was preparing, 
when a young Scotch gentleman I had overtaken 
on the road, and who had ridden some stages with 
me, asked me to come and sing with the young 
ladies of the post, who he told me were very beau- 
tiful. I knew them very well, as I had passed 
several times, but I was much too tired to sing 
or dance : however, being fond of music, I moved 
my saddle and poncho very near the party, and as 
soon as I had eaten some meat I again lay down, 
and as the delightful fresh air blew over my face, 
I dropped off to sleep just as the ninas were sing- 
ing very prettily one of the tristes of Peru, accom- 
panied by a guitar. I had bribed the capataz to 
let some horses pass the night in the corral ; we 
accordingly started before the sun was up, and 
galloping the whole day till half an hour after sun- 
set, we rode a hundred and twenty-three miles. 
The summer's sun has a power which, to those who 
have not been exposed to it, is inconceivable, and 
whenever we stopped at the corral to get our horses, 
the heat was so great that it was almost insup- 
portable. However, all the time we galloped, the 



268 THE PAMPAS. 

rapid motion through the air formed a refreshing 
breeze. The horses were faint from the heat, and 
if it had not been for the sharp Gaucho spurs that 
I wore I should not have got on. The horses in 
the Pampas are always in good wind, but when 
the sun is hot, and the grass burnt up, they are 
weak, and being accustomed to follow their own 
inclinations, they then want to slacken their pace, 
or rather to stop altogether; for when mounted 
they have no pace between a hand-gallop and a 
walk, and it is therefore often absolutely necessary 
to spur them on for nearly half the post, or else to 
stand still, an indulgence which, under a burning 
sun, the rider feels very little inclined to grant. 
As they are thus galloping along, urged by the 
spur, it is interesting to see the groups of wild 
horses which one passes. The mares, which are 
never ridden in South America, seem not to under- 
stand what makes the poor horse carry his head so 
low, and look so weary. The little innocent colts 
come running up to meet him, and then start away 
frightened; while the old horses, whose white 
marks on the flanks and backs betray their ac- 
quaintance with the spur and saddle, walk slowly 



THE PAMPAS. ' 269 

away for some distance, and then breaking into a 
trot, as they seek their safety, snort and look be- 
hind them, first with one eye, then with the other, 
turning their nose from right to left, and carrying 
their long tails high in the air. As soon as the 
poor horse reaches the post he is often quite ex- 
hausted ; he is as wet as if he had come out of a 
river, and his sides are often bleeding violently ; 
but the life he leads is so healthy, his constitution 
is so perfectly sound, and his food is so simple, that 
he never has those inflammatory attacks which kill 
so many of our pampered horses in England. It 
certainly sounds cruel to spur a horse as violently 
as it is sometimes necessary to do in tlie Pampas, 
and so in fact it is, yet there is something to be 
said in excuse for it ; if he is worn out and ex- 
hausted, his rider also is — he is not goaded on for an 
idle purpose, but he is carrying a man on busi- 
ness, and for the service of man he was created. 
Supposing him to be ever so tired, still he has 
his liberty when he reaches the goal, and if he 
is cunning, a very long time may elapse before 
he is caught again; and in the mean while the 
whole country affords him food, liberty, health, 



STO THE PAMPAS. 

and enjoyment ; and the work he has occasionally 
performed, and the sufferings he has endured, may 
perhaps teach him to appreciate the wild plains in 
which he was born. He may have suffered occa^ 
sionally from the spur, but how different is his life 
from that of the poor post-horse in England, whose 
work increases with his food, — who is daily led in 
blinkers to the collar, and who knows nothing of 
creation, but the dusty road on which he tra- 
vels, and the rack and manger of a close-heated 
stable. 

The country through which we rode this day 
was covered with locusts of a very beautiful co- 
lour : they were walking along the road so thick 
that the ground was completely covered — some 
were hurrying one way and some another, but the 
two sets were on different sides of the road like 
people in the City (of London). At one post these 
locusts were in such numbers, that the poor woman, 
in despair, was sweeping them away with a broom, 
and they swarmed in crowds up my horse's legs. 
A little girl had given me some water, and I put 
my straw hat on the ground while I sat down to 
drink, and with feelings of very great pleasure I 



THE PAMPAS. STl 

was looking at the mug, which was an English one, 
and on which was inscribed- 
No power on Earth 
Can make us rue. 
If England to her- 
Self proves true— 

when I saw my hat literally covered with the 
locusts biting the straw. As soon as I took it up, 
these parti-coloured creatures hopped off like har- 
lequins. The number of them is quite incredible, 
and they would be a most serious enemy to any in- 
dividual who should attempt to cultivate a solitary 
farm in the Pampas — although a large population 
and general cultivation might perhaps keep them 
away. 

We arrived late and very tired at the post, hav- 
ing ridden one hundred and twenty-three miles, and 
found the master Don Juan very busy, pro- 
viding supper for a priest, who had just arrived in 
a carriage ; the water was extremely bad, and I 
began to think I should fare badly, when the priest 
asked me to partake of his supper, which was now 
smoking on the table. He had some good water 
in bottles, and we had a roasted lamb before us. 



S7^ , THE PAMPAS. 

The priest ate the heart, and seemed to enjoy his 
repast as much as I did. He was silent, but very- 
kind, and occasionally nodded at the dish and 
said to me, " Come bien!" (Eat well.) After the 
lamb he brought out a box of sweetmeats, and he 
then put his hand up the large loose sleeve of his 
white serge gown and pulled out some cigars. 

Next morning at day-break we started. The 
French Coloners servant now began to complain, 
and after riding one hundred miles I saw no more 
of him, as he and the Scotch gentleman who had 
accompanied me stopped at sunset. I rode on 
about twenty miles, and the next day I rode one 
hundred and twenty miles, and reached Buenos 
Aires about two hours after sunset. 



A FEW GENERAL OBSERVATIONS RESPECT- 
ING THE \YORKING OF MINES IN 
SOUTH AMERICA. 



When one reflects upon the immense riches which 
have proceeded from some mineS; and the large 
sums of money which have been lost in others, it 
is evident that the inspection of a mine with a view 
of immediately working it with a large capital, is in 
any country an important and difficult duty. There 
are, perhaps, few subjects which require more deli- 
berate and dispassionate consideration ; for to be 
too sanguine, or to be too timid, are faults which it 
is easy to commit. In the former case, one builds 
upon hopes which are never to be reahsed ; in the 
latter, one loses a prize which energy and enterprise 
might have secured ; and the passions of the mind 
are never more eager to mislead the judgment, than 
when the object to be considered is the acquisition 
of what are termed the " precious metals." 

But if this is the case in civilized countries, 

T 



274 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

where experience has recorded many vakiable data, 
where the lode to be inspected may be com- 
pared with those which are flourishing and with 
those which have failed, where operations may 
be commenced with a cautious step, where the 
windlass may be succeeded by the whims, and the 
whims by the steam-engine, how much more diffi- 
cult is the task when the lode is in a foreign coun- 
try, destitute of resources, experience, and popu- 
lation, and when as a stranger one is led over a 
series of wild, barren mountains, to a desert spot, at 
once to determine whether the mine is to be ac- 
cepted or not. As this has been my situation, I 
will enture to make a few imperfect observations 
on the subject. 

The first object which draws the attention to a 
lode (which is a ramified crack or fissure in which 
ores with other substances are embedded), is its 
positive value or contents, and this value has lately 
been estimated in England merely from the inspec- 
tion and assay of a piece of the ore ; but of course 
this judgment is altogether erroneous, for a large 
lode of a moderate assay may be more valuable 
than a small lode of rich ores or assay, and an 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. k.<5 

extraordinary rich lode may be too small to be 
worth the expense of working, while a very large 
poor lode may be worked with profit. 

But, besides these observations, the physical cha- 
racter of the lode must be considered ; for the fis- 
sure is seldom filled with ore, it contains also 
quartz, mundic,^ &c. &c. and is occasionally a 
strong box which contains no riches at all. 

It is therefore evident, that besides the size of 
the lode, and the assay, the average quantity of ore 
it contains is also to be considered ; because a large 
lode, with an occasional bunch (as it is termed) of 
rich ores, may not be so worthy of working as a 
smaller lode with a number of bunches of poorer 
ores. There is also another material question, — 
whether the lode is getting richer or poorer as it 
dips ? For a large lode, with rich assay, and fre- 
quent bunches, but diminishing in value, may be 
calculated at less value than a smaller lode with 
poorer assay, less frequent bunches, but increase 
ing in value. 

There are many other considerations, but the 

above, perhaps, will satisfy those who have not 

* The Cornish term for sulphurets of arsenic, iron, «S:c. 

T 2 



276 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

reflected on the subject, that the abstract value of a 
lode in America can in no way be determined by 
the assay of a piece of ore in England, particularly 
when it is known that specimens of ores are often 
sent from South America as samples of lodes from 
which they never were extracted. However, upon 
the spot a calculation may be made of the probable 
produce of the mine ; and in Cornwall, where the 
expenses of the mine are known and certain, it is 
on this calculation that almost all the speculation 
of the enterprise depends. For the riches of lodes 
being subject to sudden variations, they may in- 
crease or diminish in a surprising degree ; still the 
calculation rests in Cornwall upon as fair a basis as 
those which are made on the duration of human 
life, or the insurance of ships, &c. &c. But in 
South America the case is widely different; for 
besides the value of the produce of the mine, it is 
necessary to determine what will be the probable 
expense of working it, in order to weigh or compare 
the one with the other ; and the absolute necessity 
of this, which is always done in mining, farming *, 

* No one would venture to say how much an unknown estate 
13 worth per acre, merely frpn) an inspection of a box of earth ; 



MINING IN SOUTH AMEIUCA. ^77 

and other speculations in England, is particularly 
obvious — for instance, in the provinces of Rio de la 
Plata ; for as one there rides over many hundred 
miles of rich land, which is unowned, and almost 
unknown, one cannot but reflect, that while, from 
want of population, industry, &c., such riches are 
lying on the surface unvalued, considerable diffi- 
culties would necessarily oppose the extraction of 
wealth from the bowels of the earth, by labour and 
machinery ; and these difficulties, in many parts of 
the provinces, would be so great, that it might sa- 
tisfactorily be proved that the silver extracted from 
such mines would not be worth its weight in iron 
by the time it reached England ; while the iron 
which was sent from England would cost more than 
its weight in silver by the time it reached the mine. 



The following is a rough memorandum of some 
of the difficulties, physical, moral, and political, 

because the object of farming being to make the receipls exceed 
the expenditure, it may happen (from its particular situation 
for manure, markets, &c.) that bad land is worth more per acre 
than good land. 



^8 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON^ 

which would probably obstruct the working of 
mines in the provinces of Rio de la Plata by an 
English association. 

PHYSICAL. 

1. The great distances which separate the mines 
from their supplies of men, tools, materials, provi- 
sions, &C.5 and which separate one mine from ano- 
ther ; badness of the roads ; danger in passing the 
laderos; torrents and rivers without bridges, and 
often impassable; the locality of the mines, which 
are generally situated among lofty and barren moun- 
tains, without resources or supplies; — the above 
would require expensive disbursements, and would 
often cause a great delay, which, in mercantile ope- 
rations, is a loss of money. 

2. The dryness of the climate, which affords no 
water for machinery, or for washing the ores ; but 
little even to drink ; the mine itself dry, or nearly 
so. In consequence of the above, machinery is 
inapplicable, and the mines are better adapted to 
the limited exertions of a few people, than to the 
extensive operations of an English association. 

8. Heat of the cliinate ; its effects on Europeans. 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 279 

4. The desolate and unprotected plains between 
the mines and the port at which their produce 
would be shipped; the distance being, upon an 
-average, more than a thousand miles of land-car- 
riage. 

5. The poverty of the lodes, when compared 
with those of Mexico, Peru, or Potosi. 

MORAL. 

The want of population — its effects. The gene- 
ral want of education, and consequently the narrow 
and interested views of the natives. — The richer 
class of people in the provinces unaccustomed to 
business. — The poorer class unwilling to work. — 
Both perfectly destitute of the idea of a contract, 
of punctuality, or of the value of time. — Among a 
few people the impossibility of obtaining open com- 
petition, or of preventing the monopoly of every 
article required, or the combination which would 
^aise its price '' ad libitum." The wild, plundering 
habits of the Gauchos — the ready absolution of the 
priests — the insufficiency of the laws. 

The want of experience, &c. in the Commis- 



S80 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

sioner who has charge of the Association. — The 
character, constitution, habits, and expensive wants 
of the English and European workmen, ill adapted 
to the country. — The experience they have gained 
in Cornish copper mines inapplicable to the extrac- 
tion of silver ores in South America. (See Memo- 
randum A.) Europeans, overcome by the climate, 
become indolent from possessing large independent 
salaries in a country where wine and spirits are 
cheap — women of the country — their chariacters. — 
Impossibility of the distant mines being frequently 
inspected, consequently the necessity of placing 
confidence, and of trusting gold and silver to indi- 
viduals, many of whom in England would not be 
deemed persons of sufficient education for so diffi- 
cult a situation. Probability that many would en- 
deavour to perform their duty, but the certainty 
that one leak, whether from inattention or other- 
wise, would affect the interests of the whole. 

POLITICAL. 

Important reasons why mines in South America, 
which formerly were worked with profit, would now 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 281 

ruin either Europeans or natives who should attempt 
to work them. (See Memorandum B.) 

The instabihty and insufficiency of the national 
government of the United Provinces. — The provin- 
cial governments — their sudden revolutions. — The 
jealousy which exists between the Provinces and 
Buenos Ayres. — In spite of contracts, the govern- 
ments would not allow large profits to go out of 
their provinces, or even to pass through them with- 
out contribution. — Individuals urged by the priests 
would overturn the Governor — his acts and con- 
tracts fall with him. — The junta could voluntarily 
retire — their responsibility has then vanished — no 
remedy, and no appeal. 



GENEBAL OBSERVATIONS ON 



Memorai^dum a. 

Those who propose to work a mine in Cornwatly 
have the following advantages over those who 
propose with the same people to work a mine in 
South America : — 

1. In Cornwall, previous to commencing opera- 
tions, they may inspect the mine themselves^ and 
call any number of practical men to assist them. — 
In South America they cannot do this, but must 
commit this important duty to one or more indi- 
viduals. 

2. In Cornwall the lode is in a country whose 
climate is favourable to great bodily exertion, and 
the general character of which is industry ; but in 
South America the climate and excessive heat are 
unfavourable to great bodily exertion, and the 
general character of the country is indolence. 

3. In Cornwall the miners are subjected to a 
code of most admirable local regulations, which 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 

encourage competition and industry, and leave the 
idle to starve — in South America, the miners are 
away from the force of all these regulations, and a 
high, fixed salary, with cheap wines and provisions, 
discourage competition and labour. 

4. In Cornwall, although the miners hav^e no 
theory, no schools, no books, yet, from long prac- 
tice and experience, they most perfectly understand 
the geological construction of the country, the par- 
ticular nature of the ores they seek, and the diffi- 
culties which they are likely to meet with. — In. 
South America, the geological construction of the 
Andes, and the mountains in which the mines are 
situated, is unknown to the Cornish miner — he is 
unacquainted with the ores he is to seek. The mu- 
riates, carbonates, pacos, colorados, and other non- 
resplendent ores, are by him so unnoticed, and un- 
valued, that the native miner has actually to point 
out to him the riches of the mine he has come to 
improve.* 

* There e:sists in England a natural feeling of confidence ia 
the exertions of English workmen^ but I am afraid this expecta- 
tion will not be realized in South America. 

The Cornish miner is, I believe, one of the best-regulated 
workmen in England, but like all well-regulated workmen his 



284 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

5. In Cornwall, the greatest difficulties are, the 
subterraneous streams, which, in a humid climate 
and in a flat country, so influence the plan of 
operations, that the art of mining in Cornwall 
is the art of draining, not on a general principle, 
but adapted to the geology of the country. In 
South America, as it never rains at Uspallata, and 
seldom rains in Chili, and as the winter showers, 
instead of sinking into the earth, rush down the 
precipitous sides of the mountains in which the 
lodes are situated, there is but little water ; and 
therefore the Cornish plan of operations, and, 
consequently, the experience which the Cornish 
miner has gained, is inapplicable, for the difficulties 
which he has learnt to overcome do not exist; 

attention has been directed to a particular object, and in propor- 
tion as lie is intelligent upon that point he is ignorant of all 
others. 

By a division of labour, which is now so well understood in 
England, we have goldsmiths, silversmiths^ tinsmiths, copper- 
smiths, whitesmiths^ and blacksmiths, who are all ignorant of 
each other's trades ; and if this is the case, why should a man 
whose life has been spent in working copper ores, be supposed 
able to search in any country for silver ores ? There is cer- 
tainly a much greater difference and variety between the ores 
than there is between the metals. 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 285 

while others oppose him which he has never been 
accustomed to meet. 

6. In Cornwall, to drain the mines, steam-engines 
can be procured at a short notice, and if, for any 
particular object, a large body of men are required 
for a few days, they can always be had ; also what- 
ever tools, wood, iron, rope, &c., may be required, 
can be obtained with a facility and punctuality 
known only in England. In South America, from 
the absence of water, the overpowering force of 
steam is unnecessary, inapplicable, and its great 
advantage is unattainable. In case of unforeseen 
difficulties requiring for a few days the assistance 
of a large body of extra labourers, it would be 
absolutely impossible to obtain them. Tools, iron, 
and materials could only be procured with the 
greatest possible difficulty. In many situations it 
would be necessary to send several hundred miles 
for materials. The purchaser would be assailed by 
every endeavour and combination to defraud : they 
would be delivered at a great expense of time and 
money; and in a country in which contracts are 
not understood, and time is of no value, there would 
be the most serious delays and disappointments. 



^b GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

7. In Cornwall, the expenses of the mine are 
known. The customary wages of the captains of 
the mines, the pay of the miners, who all work by 
tribute*, orby tutwork, are accurately calculated ; the 
price of tools, iron, wood, rope, and all materials is 
known, and the sale of the ores by public auction 
gives an immediate and certain return. In South 
America the expenses of each mine can never be 
anticipated. The wages of the English captains 
and miners are very high ; every article, if pur- 
chased a thousand times, would be the subject of a 
new bargain, and materials would be perhaps of 
double or treble cost, according to the people, and 
the spots from which they were to be obtained. 

* Excepting the levels, which are always driven by tut-work 
(task-work), the mines in Cornwall are all worked by Tributers, 
These Tributers are the common miners, who take their pitches 
by public auction, at which they agree to deliver the ore fit for 
market for different prices, from Gd. to 13s. 4 tZ. in the pound, 
according to the nature of the ground, the ores, &c.&c. The 
adventurers of the mine, therefore, are tolerably sure of their 
profit before the work is begun, for the Tributers pay the smith- 
cost, candles, powder, breaking, wheeling, and drawing. They 
pay men for spalling and cobbing the large rocks, for separating 
the prill from the dradge, and they also pay girls for bucking the- 
ores, and boys for jigging them. 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. S87 

After the extraction and reduction of the ores, the 
processes of smelting and amalgamation, which in 
Cornwall are unknown, (the Cornish ores being 
always smelted in Wales,) would be required. 

8. In Cornwall, in case it should be deemed ne- 
cessary to abandon the mine, the men can be dis- 
charged ; the engines can be removed ; the mate- 
rials can be sold by auction, and the loss is only 
what has actually been spent on the mine. In 
South America, in case the mine should be de- 
serted, to the sum sunk in the mine is to be 
added, the expense of the men getting to the spot 
and returning, which in many cases would be very 
great; the construction of houses for officers and 
men, as also the establishments for smelting and 
amalgamation ; the cost of engines and stores, 
which it would often be cheaper to abandon than 
to remove. 

9. In Cornwall, the resources of a great mercan- 
tile country are so extensive, that public competi- 
tion suppresses every sort of unjust combination^ 
but among small communities of men this would be 
impossible ; and without the slightest intention to 
blame any individual, I must declare, that from 



288 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

the Atlantic to the Pacific, I found that English- 
men and foreigners were preparing to monopolize 
every article that could be required for mining pur- 
poses ; and that a large English capital, belonging 
sometimes to A., and sometimes to B., was consi- 
dered by a pack of people as a headless, unpro- 
tected carcass, which was a fair subject for uni- 
versal '* worry." 






MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 289 



Memorandum (B). 

Comparing the past and the present Value of the 
Mines in South America. 

On the discovery of the different countries of South 
America, the attention of the Spaniards was imme- 
diately directed towards the acquisition of those 
metals which all men are so desirous to obtain. 
Careless of the beauty of these interesting countries, 
their sole object was to reach the mines ; and hence 
it is that the history of the American mines has 
always been considered the best history of the 
country. As soon as information was obtained 
from the Indians of the situation of the mines, how- 
ever remote, small settlements were formed there ; 
and with no other resources or supplies than those 
which nature had bestowed upon the country, they 
commenced their labours : they obtained their re- 
ward, and the arrival of the precious metals in 
Europe was hailed as the produce of intrepidity, 
industry, and science 

u 



I 



£90 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

The mode, however, in which these riches were 
at first obtained, forms one of the most guilty pages 
in the moral history of man; and the cruelties 
which were exercised in the American mines are a 
blot on the escutcheon of human nature, which can 
never be effaced or concealed, and which is now 
only to be confessed with humility and contrition. 
Besides the mita, or forced labour of the Indians 
(the particular cruelty of which it is not the present 
object to describe), the whole system was one of 
extortion and oppression*. The miners were 
barely sheltered from the weather ; the use of all 
spirits was forbidden ; their food was coarse, and 
the weighty tools which were placed in their hands 

* Those who formerly worked the South-American mines 
have been accused of ignorance, in having brought ore and 
water from the mine on the backs of men. If the Indians 
employed had received English wages and English comforts, and 
had carried the small quantity which in England would be called 
a load, the ignorance of their masters would have been great 
indeed. But the case was very different. The Indian Apires 
were beasts of burden, who carried very nearly the load of a 
mule; and their food cost but little. Their unrecorded suffer- 
ings were beyond description ; and I have been assured, from 
unquestionable authority, that, with the loads on their backs, 
many of them threw themselves down the mine, to end a life of 
misery and anguish. 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 291 

were in themselves emblems of the ignorance, 
cruelty, and avarice of their masters. 

However, there is no situation of misery or suf- 
fering to which the mind and body of man cannot 
be enured. The miner by degrees became accus^ 
tomed to his labour and his tools ; the slave, toiling 
under his load, ceased to complain ; the cry of the 
sufferers became gradually silent, and in a short 
time no sound issued from the gloomy chamber of 
the mine but the occasional explosion of powder^ 
the ringing blow of the hammer, and the faint 
whistle of the slaves, who thus informed the over- 
seer that they had reached those points of the shafts 
at which, by law, they were allowed to rest. 

The mine was said to have assumed a prosperous 
appearance, and men were talking aloud of the 
flourishing state of the South-American colonies, 
and of the inexhaustible riches of the mines, when 
the spell was gradually broken. The revolution at 
last broke out, and, as if by magic, the miner found 
himself in the plain surrounded by his countrymen ;, 
marching forward in support of liberty, and lending 
his arm to exterminate from la Patria the oppres- 
sors who were now trembling before them. 

U 2 



292 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

All the poor mines in South America from this 
moment were deserted, and the country was for 
many years in a state of warfare which it is not 
necessary to describe ; but as soon as the victory 
was gained, and independence gradually established, 
one of the first acts to which many people had 
recourse, was the working of the deserted mines, 
from which they naturally expected again to obtain 
wealth. Several of the miners had been killed in 
the wars, and others, wearing the spurs and poncho 
of the Gaucho, enjoyed a life of wild and unre- 
strained hberty. There were some, however, who 
voluntarily returned to the profession in which they 
had been trained, and were willing again to embrace 
a life whose hardships had become habitual ; but 
the forced labour of the Indian was now wanting ; 
and although this system of cruelty had been long 
abolished in many parts of South America, yet its 
existence in some places, and the unjust encourage- 
ment which the Spaniards had given to mining, in 
exclusion of every other branch of industry, had, 
up to the period of the Revolution, greatly assisted 
the working of the mines. 

Operations were, however, recommenced at al- 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 293 

most all the old mines. They were all tried ; but, 
generally speaking, they were all abandoned, be- 
cause they did not paj^, and with little inquiry into 
the cause, the reason assigned was, the want of 
intelligence and capital ; and people, frustrated in 
this object, and incapable of contending with the 
difficulties which impeded any step towards civil- 
ization in the insulated, remote, and almost imprac- 
ticable situations in which they often found them- 
selves, yielded to the habits of indolence in which 
they still exist. 

If the above rough and imperfect description of 
the mines of South America is deemed correct in 
its general features, it will account for a phenomenon 
which, in visiting several deserted mines, I was for 
along time totally unable to comprehend. 

In many places we found lodes worked to con- 
siderable depths, but the lode so small, and the 
assay so poor, that the constant remark of the 
Cornish captains who accompanied me was, " that 
there must have been something got out of the mine 
which they could not see, or else it could never 
have paid."" Besides this, the country was barren, 
and there were often many other local di sad van- 



^94 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

ages: still, however, it was evident to me that 
these mines somehow or other must have paid, or 
else they would not have been worked ; and in spite 
of the disadvantages which were before ray eyes, 
the natural conclusion was, that if they had once 
paid, they might surely pay again. 

However, as soon as I afterwards saw a few of 
the miners at work, the problem was solved. 

The miners who are now in Chili, though toiling 
in the path of their early days, have probably re- 
laxed a little from the discipline of the Spaniards ; 
but the extraordinary manner in which they still 
work, or rather slave, is almost incredible. The 
contrast between their lives and the ease and inde- 
pendence of the rest of the inhabitants of the coun- 
try, naturally leads the mind to reflect on the sad 
history of the South American mines; and this 
history, in my humble opinion, sufficiently accounts 
for, 1st, the impossibility which now exists of get- 
ting more miners ; and, Sndly, for the important 
truths, that the American mines have positively 
fallen in value since the country has been free, be- 
cause the contents or produce of the mines are still 
the same, while the value of labour, &c. , has ne- 



MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 295 

cessarily increased ; and therefore that, far from 
being able to get a greater profit from these mines 
than was extracted by the Spaniards, it would be 
impossible now to draw from them what they for- 
merly repaid, and that many of them must con- 
tinue deserted, for the evident reason, that poor 
mines, as well as poor land, may be made pro- 
ductive by a system of cruelty and tyranny, when 
under a free government they must lie inactive and 
barren. 



CONCLUSION. 



Having now completed a very rough and defective 
sketch of the Pampas, Sec, and some of the pro- 
vinces of the Rio Plata and of the governments 
and habits of the people, it is natural to consider 
how powerful this country must necessarily become, 
when, animated by a large population, enriched by 
the industry and intelligence of man, and pro- 
tected by the integrity and power of well-consti- 
tuted governments, it takes that rank in the 
civilized world which is due to its climate and soil ; 
and as, in Nature'*s great system of succession, 
" nations and empires rise and fall, flourish and 
decay,*" it is possible that this country, availing 
itself of the experience of past ages, may become 
the theatre of nobler actions than any of the na- 
tions of the Old World, whose obscure march to- 
wards civilization was without a precedent to guide 
them, or a beacon to warn them of their dangers. 
And far from being jealous of the superior strength 



CONCLUSION. 297 

and energy which a young country may attain, it is 
pleasing to anticipate the prosperity which may 
await it, and to indulge a hope that its young arm 
may assert the dignity and the honour of human 
nature ; that it may liberate the slave, and against 
every threat or danger support freedom, when the 
infirmities of an older nation may have rendered 
her incapable of the task. 

But between this moral and political eminence 
which the Pampas and the provinces of Rio Plata 
may attain, and their present state, there is a dis- 
tance which is evident to every one, though no man 
can calculate the time which will be requisite to pass 
it. The difficulties to be encountered must neces- 
sarily be great, and it is not an improper or a use- 
less subject of speculation, to consider what some 
of these difficulties may be. 

The great desideratum of these countries is po- 
pulation ; for until there is a certain proportion of 
inhabitants, the provisions of life must necessarily 
be easily obtained, and people will remain indolent, 
until necessity drives them to exertion. The over- 
plus population of the Old World will undoubtedly 
flow towards these countries, bringing with it dif- 



^98 CONCLUSION. 

ferent habits, languages, and customs. The points 
at which the emigrants settle will depend upon the 
produce which they are best fitted for obtaining, 
and. the governments of the different provinces 
must become more or less powerful in proportion to 
the success of these people. Some will rapidly rise, 
while others will be left for some time in the wretched 
state of poverty and inactivity in which they now 
exist ; and the laws and regulations which govern 
the one will be insufficient, inapplicable, or con- 
trary to the interests of the others. As the pro- 
vinces become more vigorous, it will probably be 
found that the situations of many of the present 
capitals must unavoidably be changed. For in- 
stance, the maritime province of Buenos Aires al- 
ready requires a harbour ; and it is easy to foresee, 
that when commerce estabhshes its residence at the 
new port, the government must follow. 

The language, religion, habits, and occupations of 
the different provinces will of course be influenced 
and effected by the quantity of foreign settlers, and 
the laws MUST vary with the exigencies which re- 
quire them. The provinces, as they become pow- 
erful, will naturally desire to be independent ; and 



CONCLUSION. 299 

the possibility of their being all governed from 
Buenos Aires will rapidly diminish. 

During these or similar events, the provinces of 
the Hio Plata must necessarily be in a troubled 
and unsettled state. The national government^ 
thwarted in its plans, deserted sometimes by one 
province, and sometimes opposed by another, must 
often, unavoidably, act contrary to the interests of 
those plans it may have suggested ; while the pro- 
vincial governments must often suddenly be over- 
turned, be annihilated and remodelled, until pro- 
sperity has afforded to society the liberal principles 
of a good education, which, with time and expe- 
rience, will at last constitute governments practically 
suited to the country. 

If the state of the provinces of Rio Plata has 
been correctly sketched, and if the above should be 
a fair statement of some of the probable difficulties 
which these provinces will experience in their pro- 
gress towards civilization, there are two questions 
to be considered, which are very material to the 
interests of many individuals in our country. 

1st. Is it adviseable for those who are in re» 
duced circumstances in England to migrate to 
these provinces ? 



300 CONCLUSION. 

2nd. Is it prudeiit for those of large capital to 
embark their money there in any permanent esta- 
blishment or speculation ? 

Mj humble opinion on these two important 
questions is shortly as follows : — 

A poor individual, or a poor family, or a con- 
gregation of poor families, coming from England 
to these provinces, will instantly be relieved from 
that part of their sufferings which proceeded from 
absolute want of food, for they will arrive at a 
place where coarse beef is cheap. Artizans will 
obtain good wages in the town of Buenos Aires ; 
but as English peasants are not fitted to perform 
any part of the Gaucho's labour, they will not 
receive from them more than their board. 

Now, at Buenos Aires, artizans will find pro- 
visions very dear, and although they receive more 
money than in England, they will not be able to 
live there so well. The lodgings, which are always^ 
unfurnished, are shockingly dirty, filled with all 
sorts of vermin; and, after all, they are extremely 
dear. Beef is sold in such a mangled state, that 
when the Cornish miners first arrived, they often 
returned from the butchers' carts without buying 
the meat, being unable to make up their minds to 



CONCLUSION. 301 

eat it. The fowls at Buenos Aires are also very 
bad, for they feed upon raw meat ; occasionally I 
have seen them hopping out of the carcass of a 
dead horse ; and we all fancied that the eggs tasted 
of beef. The pigs are also carnivorous. Raw beef 
is cheap, but fuel *, pepper, salt, bread, water, &c., 
are all so exorbitantly dear, that the meat when 
cooked positively becomes expensive; and every 
article of clothing is eighty per cent, dearer than in 
England. 

The society of the lower class of English and 
Irish at Buenos Aires is very bad, and their con- 
stitutions are evidently impaired by drinking, and 
by the heat of the climate, while their 'morals and 
characters are much degraded. Away from the 
rehgious and moral example of their owti country, 
and out of sight of their own friends and relations, 
they rapidly sink into habits of carelessness and 
dissipation, which are but too evident to those who 
come fresh from England ; and it is really too true, 
that all the British emigrants at Buenos Aires are 
sickly in their appearance, dirty in their dress, and 

^ The coals which are used come from Newcastle; and almost 
all the potatoes from Falmouth. 



S0£ CONCLUSION. 

disreputable in their behaviour. A poor person 
with a young family should therefore pause before 
he brings them into such society ; for it is surely 
better that his children, until they arrive at an 
age to work, should occasionally be in want in 
England, than that their constitutions should be 
impaired, and those principles ruined, which in- 
duce every rehgious and honest man in England to 
labour with cheerfulness, and to return from his 
work with a healthy body and a contented mind. 

A single man may imagine that he is able to 
resist the effects of bad society ; that he would 
enjoy the climate and freedom of the country, and 
by attention, save up a sum of money to return to 
England, — ^but he would find many unexpected 
difficulties. 

The principal one to a working man is the cli- 
mate, which in summer is so dreadfully hot that 
his constitution is unable to stand against it, and 
with every inclination to work he finds that his 
strength fails him, and that he is overpowered by 
a debility before unknown to him. He would then 
wish himself back in England, and his absence 
from his friends, and being unable to work, would 



CONCLUSION. SOS 

make him discontented with a life which hangs 
heavy upon his hands, and which becomes more 
cheerless, because, unless he has a large sum of 
money, to pay for his passage, he sees that he is 
unable to return. 

The above observations are not altogether theo- 
retical. I particularly observed the unexpected 
effect which the climate had upon many English 
companies *, and upon a large body of our English 

* We had all sorts of English speculations in South America^ 
some of which were really amusing. Besides many brother 
companies which I met with at Buenos Aires, I found a sister 
association of milkmaids. It had suddenly occurred to some 
of the younger sons of John Bull, that as there were a number 
of beautiful cows in the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, a 
quantity of good pasture, and as the people of Buenos Aires 
had no butter to their bread, a Churning Company would 
answer admirably; and before the idea was many months old, a 
cargo of Scotch milkmaids were lying becalmed under the Line, 
on their passage to make butter at Buenos Aires. As they were 
panting and sighing (being from heavy rains unable to come 
on deck), Neptune as usual boarded the ship, and the sailors 
who were present say that his first observation was, that he 
had never found so many passengers and so few beards to shave j 
however, when it was explained to him, that they were not 
Britannia's sons, but Jenny Bulls, who have no beards, the old 
god smiled and departed. The people at Buenos Aires were 
thunderstruck at the unexpected arrival of so many British 



304 CONCLUSION. 

miners, who were selected in Cornwall for their 
good behaviour, and who arrived in the Provinces 
with every inclination to maintain their character. 
They saw the degraded state of the English settlers 
at Buenos Aires, and of their own accord they kept 
clear of them; but the cheapness of the spirits, 
and the heat of the climate, were inducements to 
them to drink, which they found it very difficult to 
resist. As soon as the heat set in, the men were 
exhausted, and complained of a " feebleness" that 
they had never felt before ; and this was so great, 
that many of the strongest of them preferred going 

milkmaids; however, private arrangements had been made, 
and they, therefore, had milk before it was generally known 
that they had got cows. But the difficulties which they expe- 
rienced were very great : instead of leaning their heads against 
patient domestic animals, they were introduced to a set of law- 
less wild creatures, who looked so fierce that no young woman 
who ever sat upon a three-legged stool could dare to approach, 
much less to milk them ! — But the Gauchos attacked the cows, 
tied their legs with strips of hide, and as soon as they became 
quiet, the shops of Buenos Aires were literally full of butter. 
But now for the sad moral of the story : — after the difficulties 
had been all conquered, it was discovered, first, that the butter 
would not keep I — and secondly, that somehow or other the 
Gauchos and natives of Buenos Aires -------- liked oil 

better ! ! 



CONCLUSION. 305 

without meat to the fatigue of going through the 
sun to fetch it. This imbecility had its natural 
effect upon their minds, and they expressed their 
dishke of a chmate in which they could make no 
exertions, and by which they were even exhausted 
while lying down or sitting still ; and as soon as I 
determined on sending them home, they all most: 
joyfully gave up the lucrative advantages which 
had induced them to come to the country, and none 
of them would remain, although by their agree- 
ments they might each have claimed sixty pounds 
instead of a passage, and might instantly have 
made very good contracts with the other Mining 
Companies ; but they were all anxious to return, 
and I heard several of them say to each other, that 
" they had sooner work their fingers to the stumps 
in England than be gentlemen at Buenos Aires." 

From the above circumstances, and many other 
observations which I endeavoured to make on the 
situations of a few English emigrants I met with in 
the different Provinces, I am convinced that those 
who have hitherto emigrated to this country, as well 
as those who deserted from General Whitelocke's 
army, have passed their days in disappointment 

X 



S06 CONCLUSION. 

and regret — that the constitution of every indivi- 
dual has been more or less impaired — that their re- 
ligious principles have altogether been destroyed — 
and I therefore would sincerely advise poor people, 
particularly those who have families, not to migrate 
to such hot latitudes, if they have the means of sup- 
porting themselves in England. 

• In reply to the second question, JVhether it is 
prudent to embark a large capital in any permanent 
establishment or speculation in this country ? — the 
Spanish South Americans have certainly become in- 
dependent of the government of Spain, and this 
has of course proceeded from their own positive 
strength, and from the imbecility of the Spanish 
government ; but supposing it to have arisen from 
the first cause only, still it must be admitted that 
a young nation may be strong enough to gain its 
independence, before it has education, wisdom, or 
experience enough to know what to do with it ; and 
taking into consideration the peculiar political situ- 
ation of the country, I must own it appears to me 
that during the troubles and vicissitudes which 
must unavoidably attend the progress of these pro- 
vinces towards civilization, it would be imprudent 



CONCLUSION. 307 

for a stranger to enter into any permanent establish- 
ment ; for, ignorant of what is to happen, all he 
can depend upon is, that great changes will take 
place, that he must always be a responsible person, 
while unlooked-for revolutions may cause the go- 
vernments or the individuals with whom he has esta- 
blished himself to vanish- leaving him in the wide 
plain without a remedy, and perhaps even without 
a just cause of complaint. He may have treated 
with a government which has ceased to exist, or 
with an individual whose fortune or whose influence 
may have suddenly disappeared ; and be like the 
person who came from England to Buenos Aires 
some years ago, under the promise that he should 
have a lucrative situation in the Cabildo, and who 
learnt on his arrival that the Cabildo had just been 
destroyed. 

I can speak from my own private experience, for 
I was very nearly in a similar or a worse situation^ 
I was furnished with letters of introduction to the 
Governor of San Juan, and a copy of the then 
famous Carta de Mayo, which had been published 
in that province to insure to us religious toleration; 
but had I not fortunately been delayed upon my 

X 2 



•308 CONCLUSION. 

road, I should upon my arrival at San Juan have 
been instantly thrown into prison with the Governor 
who was already confined, and from the window of 
my dungeon I should have seen the public execu- 
tioner burning the Carta de Mayo, amidst the accla- 
mations of the people. Yet I could not have com- 
plained, for my letters of introduction and the copy 
of the Carta de Mayo had been sent to me with 
the best intention — and the Governor at San Juan 
had wished to give me a polite reception ; but the 
event was a political tempest which had not been 
foretold. 

The failure of the Rio Plata Mining Association 
is a serious proof of the insufficiency of the Go- 
vernments of La Plata. This public association 
was formed in London in virtue of a Decree, &c., 
from the government of Buenos Aires, authorizing 
the formation of a Company to work the mines of 
the United Provinces, at the discretionary choice 
of the Company; and to promote this object. Re- 
ports were forwarded from the Governors of the 
Mining Provinces describing their Mines. Yet, on 
my arrival at Buenos Aires, I found that almost 
the whole of the mines were already sold by the 



CONCLUSION. 309 

Governments to the opposition Companies, and that 
the Government of Buenos Aires, as well as the 
Governors of the Provinces, had been totally un- 
able to fulfil the Decree. Private interests and 
private speculators had overpowered their act and 
their intention^ and they had only to confess — 

Tempora mutantur^, et nos mutamur in illis. 



THE END. 



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LONDONr 

Printed by William Clowes, 
Stamford-street. 



